The Orange Swirl
by PoodlesandNoodles
Summary: He's angry to admit it, but Sasuke can't deny that he's having a psychic connection with someone whom he absolutely hates.........Naruto Uzamaki, the moron who loves orange sherbet...........
1. prologue

Sooooo I took the time to look over this story and basically edit it and change some things. I began this story a long time ago, and knew i needed to edit it and update it. So if you started reading this story from the beginning, you should know that there will definitely be changes.

Summary: He's angry to admit it, but Sasuke can't deny that he's having a psychic connection with someone whom he absolutely hates...Naruto Uzamaki, the moron who loves orange sherbet...

AN: Anything _italicized_ will be a character's thoughts.

I'm not a perfectionist so if there are any mindless grammar mistakes just overlook them.

**_The Orange Swirl_**

_Prologue_: The First Encounter/Ghost Meets Idiot

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha didn't know if he liked the sea, but he'd always find himself staring at it, barely flinching when a wave would crash onto the shore. A bored sigh caused a patch of fog to appear on the cafe window. He traced an oblong rectangle then dropped his head into the palms of his hands.

"Look, look, there he is!" a small voice cried from outside. Sasuke quickly averted his eyes, pretending not to notice the small child pointing at him from the other side of the window. "It's the ghost mommy, the one everyone at school has been talking about! He's right there!"

"Come on Mac, your ice-cream is melting," the child's mother responded as she grabbed him by the hand. She grimaced as the treat dripped onto her sleeve. "look, you're making a mess. Let's go."

"But moooooom," the child whined.

"Now mac!" the mother snapped as she began to walk off.

The small boy hesitantly followed, grumbling a few curse words as he disappeared into the crowd with his mother.

Sasuke frowned. "Stupid," he seethed as he folded his hands together. Hesitantly, he looked at them. _White…so white_.

Pale skin was obviously not common in California, but that did not make him a ghost. He was very much alive, and he had a heart beat to prove it. "I'm not different." Why the hell was everyone so tan anyway? One of Sasuke's hands traveled up to his head. He tucked his bangs behind his ear.

His hair was a demonic color, a black so dark it could have very well been the color of death...

A small grin tugged at the raven's lips. _Let's get real, _he jested to himself, _I'm totally abnormal. _

_**...**_

(_Jing, Jing_)

Whenever someone entered the Boardwalk Café, the chime on the top of the door was supposed to ring, but it didn't because the bell inside the chime was gone.

_(Jing Jing)_

Sasuke had never expected the bell to make a sound; so when it did, a chill went down his spine until it reached his toes . Slowly he turned his head towards the door.

"Naruto Uzamaki?" He whispered to himself. He watched as Naruto used his hands to shake sand out of his hair. The idiot had apparently been on the beach. He wasn't wearing swimming trunks, but somehow he was wet. Actually, a better term would be soaked. The Uchiha grimaced. _Why is Naruto soaked?_ Did he fall into the sea? No, he was most likely being bullied. Sasuke shrugged and returned his gaze towards the window. Naruto was a moron, a first rate idiot, an outcast, he was loud, obnoxious, a tan, freak, and pretty much the complete opposite of the striking Uchiha. If he was bullied then it was only typical, and Sasuke wasn't going to waste his time thinking about it. He rubbed his knuckles together. Why did he suddenly feel nervous? He bit his lip, and turned his head towards the door."Tch" he scoffed. Naruto was gone.

It wasn't like he cared anyway, but Sasuke was known to contradict himself. It was true he was a apathetic jerk, but when Naruto Uzamaki appeared in front of his table, he cared. He really cared.

_What the hell!_ the Uchiha thought, but before he could open his mouth, the idiot spoke saying: "Hey, is it ok if i sit here?"

_NO!_ Sasuke swallowed as he watched Naruto take a seat. His eyes flashed and morphed into slits. He gave the blonde a foreboding glare.

Naruto glared back. The Uchiha growled. This wasn't really happening. Sasuke was infamous for his foreboding glare. Guys peed their pants when they saw it (if they didn't runaway first). Naruto hadn't peed (or run away). Sasuke gripped the sides of his chair. He was frustrated.

Naruto cocked his eyebrows. "Now, now, there's no need for you to get ups-"

Sasuke's frustrated expression turned into an angry stare. "Why the hell are you still here?" he snapped.

Naruto frowned.

"You're bothering me."

The blonde's lip began to curl. "How am I bothering you? All I did was sit down!"

Sasuke ignored the question. "Will you Please excuse yourself from my table?" he gritted through his teeth.

Naruto blinked. "Uh….. No." the blonde chuckled mockingly. There was a rumor that if you got Sasuke Uchiha to speak he'd say something that would make you cry for a week. Naruto chuckled again. _Why would anyone cry because of this guy?_

Sasuke clenched his fists. Why wasn't Naruto leaving? "Just how stupid are you! I asked you to excuse yourself, meaning you're supposed to get off your ass and leave!"

Heads immediately began to turn after the raven's outburst. Naruto didn't notice. Sasuke didn't like the attention at all. Everyone needed to mind their own damn business.

"Listen here bastard," Naruto barked. "I'm wet, I'm cold, and I'm hungry. I don't know what possesses you to be so rude, but I'm not leaving this table until I get something to eat. If that's going to be a problem for you, I suggest you lift your own ass out of your own seat and leave!"

"What did you just say to me?" Sasuke seethed as he slowly rose to his feet.

"I didn't stutter, ass hole," the idiot smirked

Sasuke slammed his hands onto the table and leaned forward. He dropped his face in front of Naruto's, leaving only an inch of space between their noses. "I'm gonna ask you one more time to leave, and if you don't, so help me, I'll reign hell upon your ass."

"Is that so?"

"You better believe it."

"Bring on the flames then, tough guy."

Sasuke pulled back his fist. "You're dea-"

"Good afternoon, and welcome to the Boardwalk Café. My name is Ino and I'll be serving you today. Can I start you guys off with a drink?" the waitress smiled until she realized that Sasuke and Naruto were about to fight. "Is there a problem? Do I need to call the manger, or should I call the cops?"

Sasuke dropped his fist and looked at the girl standing next to his table. She was tall with a lean muscular build. Her hair was long, blonde, and pulled back into a high, ponytail.

"Hi, Ino," Naruto greeted while blushing. His anger was gone in an instant.

Sasuke, pissed and exasperated, found his seat quickly and turned to face the window. He knew Ino from school. Every once in a while she would try to wait on him, but he always ignored her. She was one of _those_ females, the ones that found it cool to swoon and obsess over him. Those girls thought Sasuke to be their very own Casper, only, he wasn't so friendly. He wasn't a ghost either, but no one liked to be technical.

"Hi Naruto," the girl responded with absolutely no interest, but her tone completely changed when she addressed Sasuke. "Um Sasuke, is their anything you would like to drink?"

"…"

"I'd like some orange soda!" Naruto practically yelled.

Sasuke flinched.

"Does someone need to be escorted out of the building?" Ino glared.

"I'm sorry. I'd like some orange soda," he whispered.

"I heard you the first time! Orange soda! Geez, you're so annoying!"

Both Naruto and Sasuke frowned.

Ino regained her composure and smiled at the back of Sasuke's head. "So Naruto, you want orange soda," she declared as she pulled a small notebook from her back pocket. She scribbled Naruto's order on a page. "Sasuke?"

"….." He sighed.

"Hey, bastard, she's talking to you."

"I don't want anything!" he snapped.

Ino grew stiff. She hardly ever heard Sasuke speak. "Ok then, I'll just go get you that orange soda, Naruto," she turned slowly and walked away.

"It's rude if you don't respond when someone 's talking to you."

Sasuke glared.

"Seriously, do you like not know what manners are?"

"Asks the idiot who sat down at my table without an invitation."

"This isn't your table."

The Uchiha didn't reply. There was an awkward silence until Ino came back with Naruto's beverage. "Here you go," she spoke as she set the glass in front of the blonde. He took a sip and smiled, showing off all his huge,white molars.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Are you ordering food too?"

"You bet."

The waitress pulled out her notebook once again. "Ok, what'll it be?"

"I sorta need a menu," Naruto answered. He rubbed his arm and smiled softly. He didn't want Ino to yell or be mad at him again.

Ino narrowed her eyes. Sasuke waited for her to knock the moron upside his head. "Right. My bad, I'll go get you one right now." She clenched her teeth then quickly stalked off.

Sasuke smirked condescendingly. "You're annoying," he said. "No wonder everyone's always trying to beat you up."

Naruto shook his head. "For someone who's known to never talk, you sure do talk a lot, and it's really pissing me off."

"Then leave," Sasuke scoffed. He pointed his finger towards the door.

"No."

"Here." Ino practically stormed back. She dropped the menu in Naruto's lap.

"That was fast," Naruto complimented.

She ignored it. "I'm gonna give you about two minutes to look through everything. If you aren't ready to order by then, I'm kicking you out," she seethed. "Ya got that!"

"Yeah," Naruto answered softly.

Sasuke didn't know why, but it kind of irked him that Ino was being hateful towards Naruto. He wondered whether it was always like that for the dummy. Were people always treating him like crap?

"What's the deal?" Naruto suddenly asked. He was searching through the menu

Sasuke tensed.

"Yes, I'm talking to you ass hole," Naruto said.

The Uchiha hesitantly looked forward "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked confused.

Naruto set the menu down and gazed into Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke immediately grew uncomfortable. Something didn't feel right. He didn't know why, but at that moment he felt very exposed as if Naruto was looking straight into his soul. _"_Stop," Sasuke demanded.

Suddenly, a small gust of wind passed between them

Naruto flinched, his bangs swaying in front of his eyes.

_Was that wind?_ Sasuke looked stunned.

"I'm used to it" Naruto spoke before he looked back down at his menu.

"What?" Sasuke asked. _What is he talking about?_

Naruto grinned. "People are people. They can be mean, but they can be nice too. Either way, don't worry about me. kay."

Sasuke didn't know what to say. Who the hell was this kid? First the chime, and now he's... Sasuke wasn't sure, but for a moment it felt like Naruto was syncing with his mind. The Uchiha shifted uneasily, but that just wasn't possible. Sasuke had never known anyone to be like him, except for his brother. "Naruto did you just-"

"I wonder if they have orange slices?" the blonde mumbled to himself, but it was loud enough that Sasuke had heard him.

_No he couldn't be,_ the raven concluded.

Ino came trotting back to the table. She had her notepad out and ready to go.

Naruto looked up at her. "That wasn't two minutes."

She glared, her nose slightly tilted up towards the ceiling. "It shouldn't take two minutes to choose from our menu. Now," she said as she licked the point of her pen, "what do you want?"

Naruto set the menu down. "I want …uh…hmmm…A hot dog….one of those jumbo hotdogs, with the works, oh, but be sure to mix the mustard and ketchup together. I like it when there's orange stuff on my food."

"_REPULSIVE"_ Ino thought, out loud.

Surprisingly, Sasuke was slightly amused but nevertheless repulsed.

"And for dessert," Naruto went on, because he knew Ino would get mad if he asked for a dessert menu, "I want-" he stopped and glanced at her, "what desserts do you have?"

"Well, seeing that you like orange things," Ino responded, "I think you should try an Orange Swirl."

"An orange swirl?"

"It's a pushup pop. Orange sherbet on a stick basically." The waitress stated.

"Alright, I guess I'll have one of those for dessert."

"Wait, that reminds me," Ino smirked conceitedly, "we ran out of those on Sunday. A new stock won't be coming in until the end of this week."

"Are you serious?"

"I'm afraid so," She sighed, feigning to care.

"Man, I was really looking forward to trying one."

The waitress shrugged. "I'll go turn your order in." She turned to walk away. "I'll be back shortly with your disgusting hotdog."

"Wow," Naruto spoke as he watched Ino walk off, "she sure is a bitch." He turned to face Sasuke, but the Uchiha was gone. There was a door slam. Naruto quickly looked out the window, but there was no trace of the brooding raven anywhere.

"Bastard." he mumbled under his breath.

* * *

Yep, That was the first chapter. the second will be up in like two days! um review and be cool.

Peace love and No0dLeS ...


	2. ch1 With Eyes Wide Open

I revised this chapter. It is different from the way I first had it.

Disclaimer: no owe.

AN: I don't know much about the brain or human anatomy; so if I'm wrong about anything just go with the flow.

Try to ignore the few grammar mistakes.

_**warning: the angst is going to start, but it's sasuke...once Naruto starts to appear more things will get lighthearted.**_

_**The Orange Swirl**_

Ch1. _With Eyes Wide Open._

* * *

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, but he could barely see. His room was very dark. Leisurely, he stretched his arms across his bed. His mouth opened in a silent yawn as he released himself from the final clutches of a deep sleep. He blinked then stared at the ceiling. The walls of the room were a deep, navy blue, almost black. Sasuke turned his head to look at his book case. It was blue too. Everything in his room was blue, except for his bed, which had white sheets, white pillows, and a white frame. It was an odd collaboration, but Sasuke felt that it suited his taste.

As the Uchiha blinked sleep out of his eyes, he shifted onto his side. On his desk, the alarm clock read 10:35a.m. Next to his clock was a family portrait. Sasuke, in the picture, was actually smiling. His older brother, Itachi, was smirking with his hands tucked into his jean pockets. His mother and father held content faces. Sasuke remembered his dad being in a good mood that day. Hesitantly, Sasuke touched the corner of the frame. He was tempted to hold it, but he faced it down instead. With another heavy sigh, he swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up. The mattress squeaked in response.

stretching, he crossed the hall and entered the bathroom. His feet clapped against the tile, as he dragged them towards the toilet.

A small groan escaped his lips as he tugged at his shorts. He fiddled with the elastic until something caught the corner of his eye. He turned towards his reflection in the mirror and cautiously looked at himself. Quietly, he stepped towards the mirror. "Hmm," he hummed. He blew his bangs out of his eyes, then used the sink to splash water in his face. He looked so…..dead. Slowly, he leaned forward until his forehead touched the glass. _It still doesn't mean I'm a ghost._ He thought to himself. He scratched the back of his head, _but I wonder if it'd be better if I were?_ His eye twitched as he remembered an unfavorable memory from a few weeks before. Sasuke didn't know why, but he felt that Naruto had mastered the art of angering him, and they had only, unintentionally, spent one time together.

Why was he thinking about that ass hole anyway?

"Sasuke."

The raven cringed. Slowly, he backed away from the mirror.

"Are you awake, Sasuke?" Sasuke stepped out into the hallway.

"There you are." A tall, frighteningly pale man hissed. He was leaning casually on Sasuke's bedroom door frame. A serpent like grin formed on his lips. Sasuke was more than tempted to step on the man's foot, but he decided to glare instead.

"What do you want, Orochimaru?" He finally spoke. His tone was extremely disrespectful, but Orochimaru didn't seem to mind. You could call it kindness, but Orochimaru wasn't a kind person. He was creepy as hell.

"Kabuto will be here soon. He needs to run some tests on you today." He answered. His arms dropped to his sides.

Sasuke's mouth formed a line.

The creepy man smirked. "I didn't think you'd be up by now. Boys your age usually like to sleep in on the weekends." He took a small step towards the Uchiha. "Then again, you're no ordinary teenaged boy, now are you?" Orochimaru chuckled.

Sasuke shivered. Whenever Orochimaru chuckled, eerie, twisted vibes would trickle down his spine. _He's like a snake. _Sasuke took a step back. "Whatever." He replied as he stepped back into the restroom. He started to remove his shirt, but stopped when he felt eyes staring at his back.

"What is it?" He asked hesitantly. He felt holes being burned into the back of his neck. The serpent was staring, hard.

"Do you need help with that?"

Before Sasuke could reply, Orochimaru had already walked into the bathroom. He grabbed the bottom of Sasuke's shirt and pulled it up over his head. Sasuke's body tensed.

Orochimaru smirked unnervingly at the Uchiha, not hiding the fact that he was looking at the boy's lean and built body.

Sasuke flushed, but out of spite and anger rather then embarrassment.

"I told Kabuto you'd be ready to leave by the time he gets here; so please Sasuke, don't take your time." With that, Orochimaru dropped Sasuke's shirt onto the floor and slowly strolled away.

Sasuke didn't watch Orochimaru leave, instead he balled his fists at his sides. "That fucking creep!" He gritted through his teeth. He wasn't going to give in to Orochimaru's manipulation. The snake-like bastard wanted Sasuke to react. He wanted Sasuke to be affected by him, but it wasn't going to happen. Still, the raven pounded his fists against the sink, he was so angry.

When Sasuke finished washing up, he made his way to the kitchen where Orochimaru had already made him a nutritious breakfast. (Ham, eggs, rice, and tea.) Sasuke grimaced, like he'd really eat something made by that freak. He walked over to the bread box and grabbed himself a bagel. But what if Orochimaru expected him to throw the meal away? If that was the case, then tossing the meal in the garbage would be proof that the creep affected him. The Uchiha frowned. He didn't want the bastard to think he had control over him. Tentatively, Sasuke sat down at the table. He grabbed and pulled the plate near the edge of the table. He ate a small piece of the ham, then stopped. He pushed the plate away and grabbed the bagel out of the bread box. He split it in to two slices then quickly slipped the slices into the toaster. _No_, He thought. _Orochimaru is not going to win_. Sasuke had a habit of analyzing things until they couldn't be analyzed anymore. He figured Orochimaru had planned for him to be pissed at the site of breakfast being prepared for him. If Sasuke got pissed then he would make his own breakfast. But the snake knew that Sasuke second guessed everything. If Sasuke second guessed Orochimaru's motives then he would choose to eat the breakfast at the table, which is what Orochimaru wanted. But Sasuke always second guesses his second guess. So in the end he decided to make his own breakfast, which is what he originally wanted to do in the first place. And if Sasuke does what he wants, he undoubtedly is in control of himself.

"Hmm….. it seems Orochimaru must be in a good mood today." Kabuto spoke, as he entered the kitchen. "Wouldn't you say so, Sasuke?" He asked while picking up the dish Orochimaru had prepared for him.

The raven didn't respond. He grabbed a plate from one of the cabinets and waited for his bagel to pop out of the toaster.

"He only makes me breakfast when he's in high spirits." Kabuto continued. "This is the first time in four years." He smirked.

Sasuke blinked. So the meal really was for Kabuto "Tch" He really needed to stop thinking so much.

"By the way, do you know where he is? I didn't see his car when I pulled into the drive way."

"…."

"I guess he's already headed to the lab."

Sasuke watched Kabuto trot over to the trashcan and drop the plate into it. The man turned towards Sasuke and sighed. "I admire his passion for science. Really, I do."

Sasuke stared at the trashcan.

"Not hungry." Kabuto answered.

(**ping**) Sasuke grabbed his bagel out of the toaster and made his way to the refrigerator. He swiftly grabbed the butter and cream cheese, kicking the door shut as he walked away.

"But, I can't give him all the glory." Kabuto continued, it was obvious he liked to ramble. Sasuke, of course, never listened. "I don't mean to be arrogant, but if it wasn't for me, I doubt Orochimaru would have been able to come this far." Kabuto slipped a vitamin, he retrieved from his pocket, inside his mouth. "He may have the brains, but I have the skills." He chewed his vitamin, with loud audible crunches. "I have brains too; so I guess one day I'll surpass him." Kabuto looked at Sasuke who was applying butter and creme cheese to his bagel.

"Don't tell him I said that though. If Orochimaru figures out that I might surpass him, he'll try to kill me."

Sasuke looked up at that. He was already halfway finished with one piece of his bagel.

" Just kidding" Kabuto smirked. "When you're ready, I'll be in the car."

_**...**_

For four years Orochimaru had taught human anatomy at UCLA. At one point he became specifically interested in the brain and decided to change his study to neurology.

Through his studies, he discovered that the average person could only use thirty percent of their brain, and that the other seventy percent was dormant. The word dormant really intrigued Orochimaru. What did it mean for seventy percent of the brain to be dormant? This questions drove Orochimaru insane. He desperately needed an answer, but one could only do so much as a college professor. He quit his job and formed a scientific team with a handful of his colleagues and one of his students. He bought a building with his life savings and began to run experiments on rodents and primates, but rodents and primates did nothing to further his research. Orochimaru wanted to make a discovery for the history books, but in order to do that he knew he would have to break the law. That's where Sasuke Uchiha came in.

The brooding raven sighed as he watched the scenery pass by him in the car.

Sasuke became an orphan at the age of seven. His parents died in a fire. He had no memories of his past, except for the one when he, his brother, and his parents took a family portrait. His brother, Itachi, was still alive, but Sasuke had no idea of his whereabouts.

Sasuke always knew he was different. He saw things that other kids didn't. He saw dead things. He had visions of the future and of the past. He saw people's truths…. and lies.

Sasuke's first orphanage labeled his gift as a mental problem. The side effects of his gift resulted in night terrors and seizures. It also made Sasuke paranoid. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia multiple times. As Sasuke grew older, his "schizophrenia" worsened, and weird things started to happen. He would call people out, labeling them as liars, cheaters, and adulterers. He would predict people's deaths, and they would happen. Eventually, he was transferred to a different orphanage. But once that orphanage found out about Sasuke's "schizophrenia" they transferred him to another orphanage and so forth and so forth. It wasn't until Sasuke was about thirteen that he was introduced to Orochimaru. Sasuke absolutely hated the man from the first day he met him, but he promised Sasuke stability, and well, how could someone in Sasuke's position refuse that.

Orochimaru knew that if he experimented on Sasuke he would get the answers he was looking for. He also knew that experimenting on Sasuke was a huge felony. This, of course, didn't stop him. By studying Sasuke, Orochimaru came up with the theory that the unused, seventy percent of the brain held some sort of power. People, like Sasuke, who could look into the future, were using the part of the brain that was dormant.

The majority of Orochimaru's team was convinced the ability was the result of evolution. But the idea of Sasuke's power being just evolution, seemed dense. Orochimaru believed it was something deeper that that. Sasuke's ability was supernatural.

It was a supernatural blood line.

"What ya thinking about?" Kabuto asked. The white haired man glanced at Sasuke from the corner of his eye.

Sasuke continued to stare out the window.

Kabuto had been by Orochimaru's side since the first day he walked through the doors of UCLA. He was the serpent's perfect student and disciple. Orochimaru placed him in charge of all lab experiments, including the one's with Sasuke. Many of the scientist, who Orochimaru had hired, were not happy that Kabuto was given such a high position, but their complaints ceased when Kabuto was quick to make a huge a discovery. After one month of running tests on Sasuke, Kabuto discovered that Sasuke's brain channeled electric currents through his eyes.

"Ok Sasuke," Kabuto pulled his car into the parking lot of a huge building, "we're here. I need to run inside and talk to Orochimaru real quick, but once I come back we're gonna start right away."

Sasuke turned his head away from the window. His arms were crossed tightly in front of his chest.

"Make your way to the back." Kabuto added before he shut his car door.

Once Kabuto entered the building, Sasuke got out of the car. He slipped his hands inside his pockets and made his way to the back of the building. In the back there was a green house. It had large glass windows that absorbed huge amounts of sunlight. It was filled with plants of all kinds. Some were tropical others you could spot in your back yard. Small pools were scattered across the room in random places. They were filled with fat, red and yellow fish. The peaceful atmosphere was supposed to help Sasuke focus, but it only pissed him off. Plants and water were not going to help him concentrate. He slowly walked along the stone path that led to center of the garden. There he stopped to examine a huge, stone fountain. Sasuke sat on the edge of it and closed his eyes. He gently dipped his fingers into the water. The cold, yet refreshing, wet feeling reminded him of the beautiful view of the sea. After he did his tests with Kabuto, he would go to the Boardwalk Café. He'd sit at his favorite table and relax. Suddenly, a disturbing image popped inside his head.

"Naruto." He whispered.

He quickly opened his eyes. "That idiot." Sasuke seethed to himself. Ever since their first encounter, Naruto hadn't come back to the café. He hadn't seen the guy in weeks. Sasuke removed his fingers from the water, but he'd see him today. He didn't know why he felt that he would, but instead of dwelling on it, he shrugged it off.

"I was shocked when I didn't find you in the car." Sasuke pushed himself off the fountain. He faced Kabuto. "I have a feeling that something good will happen today."

"Don't get your hopes up." Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"You're responding to me too. Hmm, we might actually see some results today"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Alright," Kabuto stepped forward. He was pulling something behind him. It was two metal chairs "I've been thinking. All we know about your power is that it's related to your brain and connected to your eyes." Kabuto set the chairs to the side and pulled a deck of playing cards from his pocket. He shuffled the deck then pulled one card out. He faced the back of the card towards Sasuke.

"What is it?"

Sasuke sighed. "Three of diamonds." he'd done this so many times before.

"Correct. And now….."

"Jack of spades, eight of diamonds, six of hearts, two of clubs….Do I really have to go on."

Kabuto checked, and indeed Sasuke was right about the order of the cards. "I know you're sick of these games. We've been doing them for two years, and in a few months it'll be three."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Kabuto always stated the obvious.

"But we haven't found out much." He continued. "Today I thought of something new to do."

The idea of doing something new kind of livened up the dull Uchiha. Don't get me wrong; he wasn't excited, but he was interested.

"When you were younger, you used to be able to look at someone and know their whole life story. You also use to be able to see the shadows, or that's what you called them, and you said they gathered around those who were getting ready to die. Those people, who you said were going to die, ended up dieing too….. There were a lot of things you use to be able to do, but now the only thing your capable of is predicting the order in a deck of cards. Why is that?"

Sasuke shrugged.

"Orochimaru said it might be because you're going dormant again, but I highly doubt that. I think once you've activated that unused part of your brain, you can't deactivate it. I've yet to prove that, but I will, when I feel up to it. But like I was saying; I've been thinking. I think the reason you haven't been able to do the things you use to be able to do is because you don't want to do it."

Sasuke blinked

"You have control over your power." Kabuto shuffled the deck of cards back and forth between his hands. "You just don't know you do. If you really wanted to, you could do all the things you use to be able to do when you were nine and ten."

Sasuke blinked once again.

"Here's what we're going to do today." Kabuto grabbed the two metal chairs. He unfolded one for himself and the other for Sasuke. He faced the chairs towards each other then took a seat in the one closest to the fountain.

Sasuke walked over and hesitantly sat down. "What are we about to do?"

Kabuto smirked, "I wish you were like this everyday. I'm more than confident now that today is a lucky day."

"Well?" Sasuke retorted, already growing bored with Kabuto's new experiment.

"You and I are going to have a staring contest."

Sasuke stood up. "I'm leaving."

"Wait, don't you want to try this at least once?"

"No."

The white haired man sighed. "Fine, I guess tomorrow we'll just have to go back to the cards."

Sasuke stopped. He cursed a few times under his breath, but he turned around. "Alright, I'll have this staring contest with you, but I'm putting a sixty second time limit to it. If nothing happens I get to leave. Not only that, but I'll never have to predict the order of a deck of cards ever again."

"Deal," Kabuto quickly agreed, "but if it does work, the daily card practice will be replaced with a daily staring contest."

"Fine," Sasuke agreed reluctantly. He sat down in the chair once again.

"While you're looking at me, I want you to focus on my eyes, not my nose or my ears, just my eyes and nothing else. I'll do the counting; so don't worry about counting in your head. Once we're done you can leave."

"Really."

"Yeah. Now, on the count of three"

"1…..2…..3…."

Sasuke stared at the man sitting in front of him. _This is stupid._ He thought to himself. Even though Kabuto told him to stare only at his eyes, Sasuke couldn't help but look at the man's chin and his forehead and his eyebrows. Kabuto wasn't ugly, but Sasuke hated him nevertheless.

Already 15 seconds had passed, and still, nothing was happening… twenty seconds …twenty-five….. thirty seconds…..thirty-five…..forty…..forty-five…..fifty….._whelp, so much for this exercise_.

"_I __**know he's not focusing on my eyes**_"

_What_, Sasuke cocked an eyebrow. _Who said that?_ He was staring straight at Kabuto, but his mouth hadn't moved.

"_This __**is hopeless we should just get a new test subjec**__t_" Sasuke tensed up. There was no one in the green house except him and Kabuto…right? The raven decided to focus in on Kabuto's eyes.

Everything went completely black. _Whoa, it's really happening_. Sasuke thought. He recognized the feeling from when he was ten.

Like a dream, Kabuto's entire life flashed before his eyes, from the day he was born until the present time. It was completely weird, because the whole vision was clear, up until the part where Kabuto met Orochimaru; then everything was tinted red….

"_**Orochimaru **__**is like a God!"**_

_This must be Kabuto's conscious._ Sasuke figured. He continued to listen.

"_**Is **__**he holding me back?"**_

"_**I'l**__l __**be his servant forever**__."_

"_**I'll **__**carry on his work."**_

"_**Orochimaru **__**is **__**nothing without me."**_

"_**Am **__**I nothing without Orochimaru?"**_

"_**I **__**need Orochimaru…"**_

"_If __**Orochimaru were to abandon me I- I wouldn't know what to do." **_

"_**There's always a chance he'll leave me."**_

"_**What Should I do?"**_

"_**I'll surpass him. Yes. I'll surpass him and take over everything."**_

"_**Orochimaru knows."**_

"_**He knows my motives."**_

"_**He'll Kill me, I've seen him kill before."**_

"_**Unless, I'll kill him first…"**_

"_**I'll kill him."**_

"_**Yes. I'll kill him."**_

"_**But I must wait."**_

"_**I'll wait…."**_

"_**wait..for the perfect timing."**_

Suddenly, pictures of a house began to flash quickly across Sasuke's mind. _This is Orochimaru's house, the place where I live right now_. He realized, once he put the pieces of the vision together. _What is this leading up to? _He asked, as pictures of his room and other places in the house continued to flash vividly around in his mind. But it all stopped once a picture of the kitchen appeared. Everything in the kitchen was covered in blood; the floor, the walls, the table, and the sink, but the worst part was Orochimaru, who lied sprawled out beneath the oven, his throat completely slashed.

"What is this!" Sasuke screamed at the top of his lungs. He fell out of his chair and landed on his knees. "Help!" He yelled. "Please help me. I-I don't want to- I don't want to see anymore of this- please! It hurts"

Kabuto slowly stood and watched.

"No." Sasuke whispered his voice cracked. He gripped at the grass as his body started to convulse. "No" he reiterated. He tried to lift himself on all fours but he couldn't. The convulsions forced him to lay on his stomach. With one final push, he achieved turning himself on his back. His mouth opened with a loud gasp. Why, this? Why was he seeing this? He wanted it to stop, but the mental images of Orochimaru's death continued to play themselves over and over in his mind. "Stop!" He screamed, his voice echoing throughout the green house. His eyes glazed over, and he lost consciousness.

Kabuto stood still. He walked in a slow circle around Sasuke then kicked the bottom of his leg. "I don't think he's dead." He mumbled to himself. "Hmm, I should inform Orochimaru."

When Sasuke woke up, he found himself in a white room. He groaned while rubbing the back of his head. He sat up and looked around. He was in the lobby of Orochimaru's bulding. He scoffed. Someone had been generous enough to place him on the floor and not on the couch. He stood to his feet. His body ached. What happened? His head was hurting as well as his eyes. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was …..oh, now he remembered. The memory made him want to vomit.

So, Kabuto was planning to kill Orochimaru.

Sasuke knew Kabuto was messed up, anyone who followed Orochimaru was messed up, but he'd figured the guy would have morals.

Apparently, he didn't.

So what if Kabuto really was planning to kill Orochimaru? Sasuke contemplated the idea of the creep being dead.

"That'd be a bummer." He chuckled bitterly.

Sasuke lifted himself onto his feet and moved towards the window. He had to leave. He looked outside. "All the shops on the boardwalk should still be open." He whispered. Sasuke had never been inside Orochimaru's building before, but he was able to find the exit easily. He had enough of weird experiments for one day. All he wanted to do now was relax at the Boardwalk Cafe. Sasuke felt that he should be more traumatized, but seeing that vision wasn't a new experience for him. He'd gone through crap like that before, when he was nine and ten. It was ironically natural to him. He hated it, but what could he do. He had to learn to move forward. That, in all reality, was all he could do.

As Sasuke walked towards the boardwalk, he forced himself to keep his mind clear. Something was off. He was very aware of the people passing him by on the side walk. It felt like he was touching them even though he hadn't made contact with anyone. He kept his head low because he knew if he caught eyes with a person, he'd see something he'd rather not. The last thing he wanted was to have another incident like the one he had in the green house.

"Oh! Excuse me young man." Sasuke collided with an adult woman. He immediately looked up, but before he could catch his mistake, a vision popped inside his head. It was short, but only because Sasuke had forced himself to runaway. When that woman arrived home she'd find her dog, dead, in the back yard..

Sasuke grimaced, a dead dog, that wasn't so bad. Who gave a shit about animals anyway? He breathed heavily. He eventually made it to the board walk, his head was still facing the ground. "I have to get over this." He spoke to himself. "Damn, Kabuto for fucking with my head!" Slowly the Uchiha looked up. His eyes grew wide in shock. Every person on the board walk had a weird color that traced the outline of their body. Some had a red outlining around them while others had blue. There was purple, green, orange, black, brown, white, silver, gold, yellow, and pink too. It was weird, yet at the same time beautiful. Sasuke felt like he was on drugs. _Why aren't I getting any visions?_ He stared at the people surrounding him. _There's probably too many people. My mind can't comprehend it; so instead it's adjusting. If I try hard enough, maybe I can….. _Sasuke closed his eyes, and concentrated on keeping his mind clear . When he reopened his eyes, everything was normal. _Ok,_ he thought to himself, _maybe I do know how to control this, this- thing._

When Sasuke reached the cafe he was completely worn out. He was not in the mood to see Naruto Uzamaki sitting at his table eating a corn dog. _What the Hell! _Sasuke thought._ Not right now!_ He clenched his fists. His blood pressure went up, and people's outlines began to reappear. 'Damn it!' He practically yelled. The outburst caught Naruto's attention. The blonde looked over and smirked. "Are you ok?" He asked as he stood up from the table. He walked over to the door. "Geesh, you look like shit!" He mocked. He offered his hand to help Sasuke stand straight, but Sasuke slapped it away.

"Stay away from me." He said as he turned to exit. he didn't feel like dealing with the moron right now. But come tomorrow, he was going to make it his mission to beat the twerp to a pulp. Wait, did that mean Naruto was going to be at the cafe tomorrow? Sasuke scowled.

"Hey" Naruto called after him. "Wait up."

Sasuke had to get way fast. If he looked into the blonde's eyes, he'd pry into his mind, and Sasuke didn't want to know what went on in the idiot's head.

Sasuke moved quickly, but he wasn't quick enough. Naruto, appeared directly in front of him. The Uchiha looked down.

"I came here today and saw that your table was empty. I figured you'd show up eventually; so I saved your seat just in case some crazy tourist decided to sit in it."

"Am I supposed to thank you or something?" Sasuke sneered.

"Hey, it's the least I could do. I mean, I pissed you off the other day and enjoyed it. I was being a total jerk; so I decided to make it up to you…..why are you looking at your feet?"

"Go away."

"Dude, you are so messed up." Naruto bent down and placed his head under Sasuke's. "You ok down here." Naruto spoke. Sasuke found himself staring into dark blue eyes. They were captivating. Surprisingly, no vision took place. Sasuke stood straight. his eyesight had gone back to normal too. Satisfied, that nothing crazy or dramatic had happened, Sasuke began to make his way home.

"Seriously, you are one of the rudest people I've ever met."

"Why are you following me?" Sasuke responded, shocked that the idiot was still pestering him.

"I'm not. My house is this way too, and besides, I didn't pay for my meal. So why go back?"

Sasuke didn't respond.

"I don't know if you've heard this from anyone else before, but you're really weird. I mean, everyday you wear black clothing. You do realize that black doesn't look good on those who have pasty white skin, right? You need to go tanning. Me, I'm naturally tan; so I don't have to do that as much. But like I was saying, you're really creepy. Besides the fact that you always wear black, you're always sitting in that same seat at the café. You're always looking longingly at the sea too. You're right in front of the window. Everyone can see you. I mean, I saw you."

"You're ridiculous!" Sasuke finally responded. "Why are you still talking to me? You're acting as if I actually care about what is you're talking about, just shut up!"

"You're a complete ass hole."

Sasuke stopped walking and stared at the moron standing next to him. "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

"Maybe."

Sasuke started walking again. "Then I won't give you what you want."

"Good, that's what I wanted anyway."

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's collar, a sinister smile gracing his lips. He looked into his blue eyes and found that he couldn't pry into the idiot's mind at all. Baffled, Sasuke threw Naruto back and continued his walk home. Naruto didn't follow. He only watched Sasuke walk away.

"If I see you sitting at my table tomorrow, I'm so going to kick your ass!"

"Is that a threat?" Naruto responded.

"It's a promise, idiot!" He said before he jogged away.

Sasuke had no idea what just happened. His own cluelessness pissed him off. He knew he was going to see that moron today, but how? How did he know? Sasuke sighed heavily. These powers of his... he was satisfied with not having been able to use them, but everything was changing now, and he didn't like it.

His jogging eventually turned into a long stride

_My life would be much easier if I were a ghost. _He thought.

* * *

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I bet this story is nothing like you were expecting it to be. Whelp I'm gonna get this third chapter out shortly. I want it out by then end of this week, but I'm not promising anyone anything so just bare with me. Tell your friends about this story it's going to get really good. If you have any complaints please inform me of them and I will try my best to adjust.

_**Peace, love and NOOOOOdles!**_


	3. Ch2 Who's to Blame

I have gone back and reedited this chapter. Their are some minor changes, but nothing too huge.

Disclaimer: no owe

(**IMPORTANT, AUTHORS NOTE):** This chapter is chaotic, and quick paced. Sasuke's thought process if fricked up, but I only made it that way because I wanted to make the reawakening of his powers to be frustrating anf dysfunctional.

**one more thing**: I know there's a lot more of you guys now who are reading my story, and I appreciate all of you very much, but may I just ask that you drop a review. When authors receive reviews it gives them, how can I put this, an ass load of motivation! If you don't know what to put in a review a simple "good job" would be ok. Either way, do whatever you feel like doing. I'm not going to freak out because of a lack of reviews, but anyway, thanks again everyone, for checking this story out!

Ignore the grammar mistakes.

**_Ch2. Who's to blame?_**

* * *

Sasuke slowly opened the door to his house. He didn't know if he was in trouble or not. He had left Orochimaru's 'building' without informing anyone, and he'd been gone for at least two hours. It was late, but it wasn't too late. He guessed the time to be somewhere around eight thirty. "It's not that late." He reassured himself. Sasuke stepped inside the house. It was completely dark. His lips morphed into a frown. _No one's home_. "Hn." He'd been worried for nothing. He closed the door behind himself and reached for the light switch.

"I'm glad you finally decided to come home," a chilling voice echoed in the darkness.

Sasuke stopped when he heard the ominous voice. "Orochimaru, is that you?"

The room grew silent. Sasuke sighed. There was a small noise that sounded like clothes shifting and then a staccato-like click. A small lamp flickered on.

Sasuke turned from the wall to look at the lamp. The light was a deep, rich yellow, almost gold. It didn't really light up the room, but it illuminated the chair Orochimaru was sitting in.

The Uchiha shivered. Orochimaru looked absolutely diabolical. His eyes were glossy and yellow; like a carnivorous anaconda's. They shined reflecting the light off the lamp. His body appeared to be sinking into the back of the chair. One leg was crossed over the other. His arms were lying stiffly on the arm rests, fingers curled into loose fists. His head wasn't facing the lamp, so only half his face was visible. The other half was lost in the darkness. Sasuke swallowed hard. He was getting bad vibes. He tried not to stare, but there was something about Orochimaru's eyes that made him feel uncomfortable. Why were they glowing? Sasuke figured the lamp was causing the effect, but he thought it best to stay near the door just in case he was wrong.

He really hoped he wasn't wrong.

"I heard from Kabuto that you had a vision today." Orochimaru spoke, his unsettling voice vibrating Sasuke's chest. "And there was a minor seizure after it too." he continued.

"…."

"….I bet that wasn't too pleasant." the man blinked slowly.

He wasn't sure, but Sasuke guessed Orochimaru couldn't see him. It was still dark where he was standing. Slowly, Sasuke lifted his hand and quietly grabbed the doorknob.

"You aren't planning to leave again are you?"

Sasuke froze

"I wasn't too happy when I found out you weren't in the foyer. I was worried….. You had a seizure Sasuke. You shouldn't have run off like that." An eerie chuckle reverberated from Orochimaru's throat. "Exactly where did you go?"

….

"Sasuke?"

"Why the hell would I tell you?"

The raven tensed when Orochimaru stood to his feet. The serpent wasn't acting normal. Sasuke's rude remarks never really bothered him, but, for whatever reason, tonight, it seemed they were.

Orochimaru uncannily walked over to where Sasuke was standing.

Sasuke moved back until the door prohibited him from moving anywhere else. He was afraid, and now he couldn't move. Sweat beaded on his brow. He could hear his heart pounding inside his chest. His pulse was racing. _I feel weird_. The fear he felt, made his head hurt and his eyesight blurry. _I've felt this way before_. Sasuke thought to himself. _Am I'm about to have a visio?,…..no, but something is about to happen. _

Orochimaru kept moving forward until he was less then a foot away from the black haired teenager. Sasuke closed his eyes and bit his lip. He felt like he was going to blow …..or rather, he felt that **something** was going to blow.

Orochimaru reached out his hand.

(_Click_!)

Sasuke opened his eyes.

Orochimaru had flipped the light switch.

_His eyes aren't yellow anymore_

Orochimaru stared at the Uchiha and smirked. "Go to bed." He said before returning to his chair.

Sasuke watched closely as Orochimaru trotted back to his seat. Today was the day a new form of tension had been forged. Or had it always been around, and Sasuke just never noticed it?

It was everywhere, killer intent.

All feeling had left his feet, so Sasuke waited until his blood started circulating normally again. He flexed his toes a few times and rolled his ankles around. He'd actually been scared stiff; so stiff that he felt winded. The boy needed to lie down.

"Fucking creep." Sasuke mumbled as he gripped the railing of the staircase. His lip puckered out in a pout. "Dammit." he cursed under his breathe. _Why do I feel so defeated_? He thought to himself. He'd been afraid of the malicious bastard. _I gave him what he wanted_. Sasuke was disappointed in himself. He gave Orochimaru a reaction and a big one at that, but it was almost forced, as if his body received direction from an unknown source. Ok, maybe it wasn't that, but regardless of what it was his guard had been down when he came home. He had been thinking about that moron, Naruto.

It was all his fault.

Halfway up the stairs Sasuke began stomping his feet. "That deadlast son of a bitch!" He cursed. "I'm gonna kick his ass tomorrow!" Sasuke smirked. he could see it. Yeah, tomorrow he'd grab that loser by the throat and choke him till he turned purple. It was definitely his fault. _If he hadn't been- so ….stupid-and if I….hadn't-a-gah_! It was Naruto's fault right? Once Sasuke reached his room, he kicked the door open, pulled off his black shirt, and fell face first on his bed. "Ahhhhh," he yelled, smothering his scream into a white pillow. He felt so weird. He gripped the sheets. This was bad. Sasuke wasn't suppose to feel weird. He wasn't suppose to feel anything. Well, he'd feel every once in a while, but the feelings were always negative. Being anything, but apathetic wasn't normal for him. But something different was pinching him in the pit of his stomach, a different feeling, and well, he did like it. Whoa, talk about out of control mood swings! Sasuke sat up and faced the window. He placed the white pillow in his lap.

He really liked it.

Sasuke sighed angrily. He liked it so much that he hated that he liked it.

"Naruto what did you do to me?"

There was something off about that guy. Come to think of it, Sasuke's powers were completely dormant until after he met the dumb blonde. Technically, his powers started working a few weeks after they met. Sasuke shook his head, but he knew he was going to see Naruto today, and it couldn't possibly be coincidence that on this day, the day he knew with out a doubt he would see Naruto, that his powers came back.

Sasuke started to tremble. "It's not possible." He muttered to himself, but if it was….. A shaky, _**happy**_ grin formed on his lips. "Oh no." He grunted. He couldn't control his emotions at all. He was so use to feeling numb and apathetic, that when the numbness and apathy went away, it was replaced with chaos.

(_Fwooooom…..crash!_)

Sasuke jumped off his bed. "Holy Shit!" His window had shattered!

"Fuck!" He yelled…."What the hell happened!" He slowly walked over to the window. His bangs swayed back and forth as a small breeze filled the room. The raven turned away, crossing his arms over his chest. He shook his head, feeling dizzy. "Damn!" He gazed out into the hallway. The pinching in his stomach was intensifying. He could feel an overwhelming sensation invading his body. He leaned back, steadying himself on the window frame. His hands gripped the bottom of the window pane. "Damn!" He cursed again. His nails were scratching the paint.

(_pop!….pop!….pop_!)

The Uchiha's eyes widened. He pushed himself forward. The lights on the hallway ceiling had exploded.

Sasuke ran and immediately slammed the door to his room. He quickly turned and rested his back on the door. _Calm_ ….he needed to think of calm things. He closed his eyes and slowly slipped down towards the floor… _Calming things…sand-sand….. The beach!... The beach-the beach…the sea!...the sea-the sea…..water!...water- water…..blue!...blue-blue…. Eyes…. (pause) …..his eyes are the same color as the sea aren't they? No, they're more like the color of the sky_…..…?

(_CRACK_!)

The raven fell backwards, his back landing on the floor in the hallway…..in the hallway? Sasuke looked up from the floor to see that his bedroom door had split in half. Wood shards were in his hair and in his mouth and on his chest. They were all over the carpet too. They were everywhere.

"Sasuke!"

The Uchiha ran his hands through his hair. Orochimaru was coming. "Damn. IT!"

Orochimaru walked up the stairs not bothering to run, even though he heard all of the commotion. When he reached the top stair he looked up at the ceiling. "Oh?" he hissed. noticing the broken lights. He walked over to Sasuke's destroyed, bedroom doorway. He stepped over the Uchiha and peeked his head inside the room. "Hm" he retorted nonchalantly. The bleached skinned man then looked at Sasuke on the floor. He grinned a huge grin, the biggest one Sasuke had ever seen.. "Ku ku ku ku ku ku ka ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Sasuke sat up. "Do you think this is funny!" he snapped.

"I'm gonna go call Kabuto. Get dressed were going to the lab."

"No!"

Orochimaru's facial expression immediately became stern. His tolerance was quickly fading. "I'm in a good mood right now. It'd be foolish of you to ruin it. Get dressed; were leaving in five minutes."

Sasuke stood to his feet. "I said no." He pushed past the man and entered his room.

Orochimaru looked calm, but he was offended. In one swift motion he grabbed Sasuke's arm and bent it behind his back. With his free hand he grabbed the back of Sasuke's neck and pushed him forward until his stomach landed on the bed.

"Sasuke, you know your like a son to me right." Orochimaru hissed in the boy's ear. "I don't like being mean, but lately you haven't been a good boy. Are you unaware of how much damage you just caused? I have just about enough sense to kick you out of my house. Luckily for you, I'm a good person…so you could at least show some gratitude. Respect would be nice too." Sasuke tried to twist out of the Orochimaru's grip, but he failed. "You're my prized possession, and I want to take good care of you. But in order for me to do that you're gonna have to comply. Stop acting like a stuck up princess. You have something great, and I want to make sure that that great thing doesn't go to waste. So do as I say and get dressed, otherwise you'll be punished…..if you know what I mean. Ku ku ku ku…"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Get the fuck off of me you sick bastard!"

(_swoosh_)

Orochimaru flew backwards. With a loud crash, his back hit the wall. The force of the collision left an ugly dent in the wall. Sasuke turned to face his guardian.

There was an achingly long, awkward silence.

"Get the hell out!" Sasuke finally yelled.

The man stood up, his expression cold. He left without saying anything else.

Sasuke sat on his bed. He leaned forward placing his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands.

His mind was fogged.

_**...**_

Sasuke woke up the next morning feeling soulless and empty. He pulled his covers closer to himself. He felt awkward. Was it because Orochimaru had threatened to punish him? Sasuke shuddered at the thought. He then covered his mouth, feeling as if he were going to puke. He seriously hated Orochimaru.

"Naruto." Sasuke muttered to himself. Why was 'he' suddenly invading the Uchiha's thoughts. _I shouldn't have gone to the Boardwalk Café yesterday_. Seeing Naruto again had made his already complicated life even more complicated.

Even though Kabuto had been the one to pry his powers out of him, Sasuke couldn't help but feel that Naruto had reawakened them. Everything he thought he had suppressed in the deepest depths of his mind had resurfaced, as if they had never been suppressed at all. Soon he'd be able to see the dead, and sometime after that he would start seeing the shadows again. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. "The shadows." He whispered.

_It's all his fault_. Sasuke's mind trailed back to Naruto. He was the spark that started the fire, and he just knew it. Their two meetings may have been brief, but Sasuke knew, without a doubt, that the blonde had did something…something!

Sasuke moaned, he was exhausted and he still felt awkward. he stayed in his room most of the morning. He wasn't going downstairs, not until Orochimaru left for work. He wasn't going to leave with Kabuto either. He needed time to think. And thinking didn't involve going to that damned green house to be tested on.

That white-haired, dumb ass was freaking annoying.

_**...**_

When Sasuke wasn't thinking of Naruto, last night would replay itself in his mind. He remembered exactly what happened and how it happened. It was very fast, but he remembered everything vividly. He had felt so many emotions. He'd never felt so excited in his life, or anxious,…. or happy. Yeah, he had been happy, but only God knows why.

But, along with feeling happy, Sasuke had felt afraid too.

Orochimaru had seriously freaked him out; first with the glowing yellow eyes and then with the creepy threat to punish him. "I have the advantage though," Sasuke whispered to himself. "If I wanted too, I could just kill him…"( pathetic sigh)… "even so, he still intimidates me." He abruptly sat up throwing his covers to the side. "Why does he intimidate me!" Sasuke pulled his legs to his chest. "I'm so pathetic." He placed his head on his knees. "God, I'm so pathetic!" Sasuke cocked his neck back until his body came to lay itself out again.

Why was he still living with the demented bastard?

"_**Are you unaware of how much damage you just caused? I have just about enough sense to kick you out of my house**_."

Had something like last night happened anywhere else, Sasuke would have been sent out to live in the streets. Orochimaru was being generous. Sasuke placed his arms under his head. So what did that mean? Was it a blessing that Orochimaru liked him so much? He scowled

"I think I'd rather live in the streets."

"Sasuke, are you awake?" Kabuto stepped inside Sasuke's room. He touched the door, or whatever was left of it, then looked over at the broken window. "Wha-"

"Don't ask!" Sasuke snapped before Kabuto could finish his sentence. "I'm not going with you today; so just leave!"

The white-haired scientist crossed his arms. "Orochimaru said you probably wouldn't work with me today." Kabuto looked around the room again. "It's obvious something dramatic happened last night; otherwise you wouldn't be sulking under the covers."

"I'm not sulking under the covers. And nothing dramatic happened last night."

"Right." Kabuto's glasses were sliding down the bridge of his nose. He pushed them up then slipped his hands inside his pockets. "Well, I can't make you do anything you don't want to do, and I doubt you'd be interested in joining me for lunch…"

Sasuke didn't respond.

"Ok, well, I was only told to check up on you anyway; so I guess I'll take my leave." Kabuto turned to exit the room.

"Wait," Sasuke sat up.

The young scientist stopped at the doorway

"Where were you planning to eat lunch at?"

Kabuto cocked an eyebrow. "Somewhere near the boardwalk."

* * *

I really wish this chapter could have been longer, but I really did have to stop it here. The next chapter will be out really soon! So leave a review, tell me what you liked and what you didn't like and what I can work on. Or you could just leave a "good job". Either way I'll be glad!

_**Peace, love, and NOOOOOdles!**_


	4. Ch3 Horseshoe Shack

I have reedited this chapter. Woot! woot!

Ok, So i realized that horseshoes only exist in illinois! ha ha ha ha ha! But they are so good. I had to bring them up in this story. If you do not know what a horseshoe is I advise that you look it up on google. Just remember that it is a food; so you might have to type something like this: _**horseshoe the food**_.

Disclaimer: no Owe

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: Any part of the story that deals with Kabuto and Orochimaru is a sub plot.

Overlook the few grammar mistakes. They will be fixed!

_**The Orange Swirl**_

_Ch3. __Horseshoe Shack_

* * *

The car ride, like every car ride with Kabuto, had been a quiet one, and Sasuke had sincerely appreciated it. His head came to rest on the window, and he closed his eyes. _I guess_ _this isn't too bad_. He thought. He was about to doze off until the car made an abrupt turn into a parking garage. Kabuto parked his camry on the top floor.

"We're here," he said and unbuckled his seat belt.

Sasuke wanted to act annoyed, but he found that he couldn't. He sighed and stepped out the car, shutting the door with more force than necessary.

"I hope there's an elevator," Kabuto said as he walked towards the stairwell. "I'd hate to have to walk up eight flights of stairs after being in the heat all afternoon."

"No one made you park up here," Sasuke mumbled to himself. He wondered why Kabuto had invited him to lunch. He tried to keep himself from staring at the man, but it was difficult. _He couldn't possibly like me?_ Sasuke pondered as Kabuto opened the door to the stair well.

"Perfect," the scientist said sarcastically. There was no elevator.

Sasuke never acknowledge Kabuto; so how could the man like him.

"Oh, just so you know the meal is on me." He smirked, before he started walking down the stairs.

Sasuke turned his head and scoffed. Who gave a shit if Kabuto liked him or not. He could not be friends with a murderer.

"It's really warm today," Kabuto half whined, as he walked out of the stairwell and onto a busy sidewalk. The man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"It's not that hot," Sasuke grumbled. He observed his surroundings and his face softened. _L.A_. He folded his arms across his chest. L.A. was perfect. (Well, almost perfect. There were way too many people.) The weather was almost always nice, not to hot not too cold, and the air was always fresh, filled with the sweet fragrance of the ocean. Los Angeles was a feel good city, and apparently that's how Sasuke felt. Good. Wich really threw him off, because no less than an hour ago he had felt miserable and awkward and extremely angry.

"You seem to be feeling better Sasuke."

Sasuke shrugged than grunted.

"You have this calm, serene look on your face. That's uncommon for you," Kabuto continued, his tone rather peculiar.

The Uchiha flinched. He didn't like the idea of Kabuto watching him, like he was some sort of accused criminal. That was Kabuto's role was it not?

"You must be happy to be out of the house, right?" The scientist asked

Happy. Sasuke blinked. He didn't know what to think. He wasn't happy was he? He shook his head. No. He was relieved. He needed to be away form Orochimaru and anything that reminded him of the bastardly serpent. Sasuke turned his head towards the street. It was filled with honking cars. He tucked his hands inside his black shorts. Today, really was a nice day. The sun was high and bright in the sky, and every two or so minutes a light, crisp breeze would blow across the tops of the palm trees and tickle Sasuke's nose.

"Have you decided where you want to eat yet?" Kabuto asked disrupting the teenager's thoughts.

Sasuke did know of one place, but the Boardwalk Café was his secret getaway, the only place where he could go and try to be normal. Besides, Naruto was probably there, and Sasuke had no intention of letting anyone know about that idiot.

"No." he finally answered.

"How about the horseshoe shack? I've been craving one of those for days now."

"If you already knew what you wanted, why would you ask me to pick a place ?"

Kabuto rolled his eyes. "It's called manners," he answered in a low voice. "Something you seem to know nothing about."

Sasuke glared. Naruto had said the same thing.

The Horseshoe Shack was nothing grand. It was a very small building with a few tables set up behind it. Kabuto quickly stepped in line. Sasuke followed after him scratching his arm. _What a boring place._ He thought superficially.

"It's not an impressive stand, but the horseshoes totally make up for the lack of pizzazz." Kabuto whispered out of the side of his mouth.

Sasuke gave a sarcastic thumbs up. Like he really cared about the quality of a damn horseshoe.

Kabuto ignored Sasuke's mocking behavior and stepped forward in line. "I'll take two please." he said to the man behind the counter.

Sasuke noticed him to be fairly round with an unattractive face.

The man collected Kabuto's money, then turned to retrieve two freshly made horseshoes. "Here you go." he smiled as he handed Kabuto two Styrofoam boxes. "Condiments are in the back." He added before he called forth the next customer.

Kabuto lifted the two containers up. Sasuke scoffed before snatching one of the boxes out of Kabuto's hands. The scientist blinked, his expression full of surprise. "You're welcome." he said, obviously offended.

"I didn't say thank you." Sasuke curtly replied.

"Right." Kabuto smirked. "I'm gonna go get some condiments. Do you want any?" he asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "I'll go get us a seat." he responded as he walked towards the back of the Shack. He sat down at the table closest to the ocean. "Hmm, I guess the view is nice." He looked down at his Styrofoam box. Slowly, he lifted up the top flap.

"You might need these." Kabuto suddenly spoke as he sat down and handed Sasuke a knife and a fork. "Here's some mustard, ketchup, relish, peppers, olives…"

Sasuke gripped his fork and stabbed a small fry that was smothered in cheese. He popped it inside his mouth and chewed it slowly. _Not bad_. He decided and began to eat the horseshoe. It was better than what he originally thought it was going to be.

"Good ain't it?" Kabuto said as he watched Sasuke eat his meal.

He didn't reply.

"Thought so." the man concluded than smirked.

Sasuke ignored him again and continued to eat his lunch.

Kabuto sighed, fiddling with his plastic utensils. He whispered a small blessing, than used his knife to cut his horseshoe in half. He covered the patty with most of the condiments he had brought to the table. "So," he started to talk again. He slipped a few french fries into his mouth. "What happened last night?" He asked very casually.

The Uchiha, who had been engrossed with his horseshoe, began to eat his food cautiously, obviously effected by Kabuto's question. He didn't know whether or not he wanted to answer. He knew for a fact he couldn't trust Kabuto. He stared at the man out of the corner of his eye. "I already told you, nothing happened last night."

"Oh, so the broken door, the broken window, the huge dent in the wall, and the shattered hallway lights were caused by nothing?" Kabuto asked sarcastically. "That makes a lot of sense." He added and frowned.

Sasuke bit his tongue. Kabuto was nicer than Orochimaru, but he couldn't accept him as anything more than the serpent's slave. Sasuke watched Kabuto closely. All his movements were very tense as if he were mad or annoyed. Sasuke sighed, he couldn't disrespect him anymore. He felt that Kabuto was on edge; so he had to at least pretend to be respectful, that way he'd have no part in Orochimaru's murder. "Alright." he choked. "Something may have happened."

Kabuto stopped eating his lunch and cocked an eyebrow. "May have happened?" He asked.

Sasuke's hands found there way to his lap. "Me and Orochimaru got into a fight." He half whispered.

The scientist lifted a long fry to his mouth, but stopped it short of his upper lip. "About what?" He slid the fry between his lips and bit the top half.

Sasuke probed his food with his fork. "He was acting weird, and I didn't feel too well. He was threatening to punish me. I got upset, and we fought."

"Physically?" The white-haired man perked up in his seat.

"Yes." Sasuke half lied, as he shoved a piece of hamburger into his mouth. "We got into a fist fight." Now he was completely lying.

Kabuto's face became still. "What kind of fist fight results in all of the lights on the hallway ceiling being broken," His eyes fluttered in annoyance "not to mention the door being split in half. You can't blame that on a fist fight.'

"It was an extreme, fist fight!" Sasuke exploded.

Kabuto sighed. "There are video cameras in the house Sasuke." He confessed, his expression full of annoyance. "I know you and Orochimaru didn't get into a fist fight. I wasn't really able to make out everything that happened on the tape, but I'm smart enough to put two and two together. You and you alone were obviously the one who caused all the damage in the house. Just tell me right now. Did you have a psychic break down last night? If you did, I really need to know, a scientific breakthrough is at stake here!"

Sasuke didn't know what to say or think. Were there really video cameras in the house. Were Orochimaru and Kabuto really watching him when he didn't know it! Sasuke could feel an angry swelling in the pits of his stomach.

"Please don't get angry Sasuke." Kabuto immediately noticed the Uchiha's reaction and tried to calm him down. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you about the cameras. In fact, when we get back home, I'll ask Orochimaru to remove the ones from your room."

"How dare you!" Sasuke blew up "Just who the fuck do you think you are?" He yelled. His outburst caused many heads to turn, but he was to enraged to notice. The pinching in his stomach began to intensify, and Sasuke knew what would come next if it got any worse. He grabbed at the table, and took deep breaths.

"Are you ok?" Kabuto asked, but he was more excited than he was concerned.

This angered the Uchiha even more. His stomach felt like it was turning inside out. It was unbearable. He dropped his head on the table and stared at his shoes. He had to focus on something else; calm himself down, otherwise there was going to be another incident like last night's.

"I'm sure Orochimaru will understand." Kabuto spoke up and quickly brushed his hand over the top of Sasuke's head.

Sasuke's head snapped up. "Don't touch me!" He sneered. He was at his breaking point.

The table began to shake.

Kabuto felt the vibrations, and his eyes widened.

Sasuke attempted to stand up, but he couldn't. The table began to shake wildly, it's legs wobbling with vicious tremors.

Kabuto's mouth opened. "Sasuke are you doing this?" He asked.

_I don't want this to happen. _Sasuke thought to himself. He wrapped his arms around his waist. _Not here, not with all these people watching me._ His stomach was doing flips. _Naruto…please help me. _Sasuke didn't know why, but he felt that if he called out to Naruto that some how the pinching in his stomach would stop. Of course, when he thought about the blonde last time, he broke his bedroom door, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and Naruto was the only one Sasuke felt could help him in this desperate moment. _Naruto._

_**Calm down Sasuke. You're such a drama queen. It's just a video camera.**_

"What?" The raven asked, a second of stillness filling his psyche.

The table stopped shaking.

Sasuke looked around, but no one had said anything to him.

Kabuto blinked several times then stared at the teenaged boy who suddenly seemed to be relaxing.

Sasuke removed his arms from his stomach and took a deep breath. The pinching had subsided.

"Hmmm?"

Sasuke looked up at Kabuto and glared.

"Do you know what they say about the truth Sasuke?" The man asked, his grin now similar to Orochimaru's.

Sasuke stood to his feet. "No, I don't know what they say, and I'm not gonna stick around to find out."

Kabuto's shoulders dropped. "You can't leave. We have too much to do! Did you not just see what took place only seconds ago! You don't really expect me to just let you walk away, now that I've witnessed the resurgence of your powers. "

"Fuck yeah I'd expect it!" He sassed back. "I'll come back whenever I feel like it; so if I were you, I'd find some other way to entertain myself because I'm not gonna be your damned, lab rat anymore!"

Kabuto scoffed then rolled his eyes. "Don't think so little of me you spoiled brat." His eyes darkened. "Go ahead, run off and do your childish shit, but you'll be back here in an hour, and if your not, there will be dire consequences. Now is not the time to be messing around. With your abilities reawakened there's a lot of work that's going to have to be done. Orochimaru is expecting a lot from me, and I'd be damned if I let him down because of your insubordinate behavior!"

A condescending smirk formed on Sasuke's lips. _He's joking right? "_Let's get real Kabuto, you sick bastard, you're not as clever as you think. You only care about yourself, and you're just waiting for the day that you can …" Sasuke immediately clamped his mouth shut. He was about to say too much.

Kabuto stared at the dark haired teenager with wide surprised eyes. "The day I can what? What were you about to say?"

Sasuke ignored his question. "You're just a selfish un-loyal slave! And I've got you all figured out. All your plans, all your wants, and all your desires. I know **everything **about you. And don't think I won't use your dark secrets against you, because if I can take either you or Orochimaru down, I'll be one step closer to freedom.

For a moment both Adult and teenager were quiet.

Sasuke felt like a dictator, and Kabuto City was under his command. The scientist couldn't do anything now, but go with whatever orders Sasuke had to give.

"So what." Kabuto finally replied, and Sasuke had to replay the response about five times in his head before he actually believed what came out of Kabuto's mouth.

"Y-You." Sasuke stuttered, and he knew he had made a huge and horrible and extremely stupid mistake.

"So you think you've finally figured me out?" The man sighed. His whole persona seemed to morph into something completely different "I knew I should have used some one other than myself to test that staring contest with you." He scratched the back of his neck. "There's nothing I can do now."

"How, how are you ok with this!" Sasuke asked, his shock merging with his confusion.

"Let me put it this way." Kabuto growled, his self-control and forced kindness completely gone. Sasuke shivered, shocked at Kabuto's complete change of character. "I'm Orochimaru's only hope for figuring out the secrets of your psychic bloodline. In other words, he needs me. He's not going to push me aside just because I might have a few "issues." If he gets rid of me then his studies can't go on."

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Kabuto sneered, obviously hating the idea of having to explain himself. "I don't know if you know this, but Orochimaru is the only scientist in the world to have gain physical evidence of the seventy percent theory.

"But what about you and all the other people he's partnered up with?"

"There was a price to pay for being one of the only scientists to know about your existence."

"A price?" Sasuke reiterated.

"I had to give up my identity, my life…...and all rights to any discoveries made. If the government were to discover us, they'd shut down the lab and take away everything. All of us would be left with nothing, and we'd be thrown in jail.

So then why, Why would any of you agree to partake in such a one-sided deal.

Who said anything about a deal.

Sasuke couldn't reply. He couldn't even open his mouth. What was Kabuto hinting at.

"I do say, little Sasuke, by being a smart-alick fool, you've only made things harder for yourself. There's still a lot about me and Orochimaru you don't know, but if your wise, and I know you are, you won't go trying to figure anything else out …." Kabuto's glare became so severe, Sasuke swore he was looking into the eyes of a demon, "cause I assure you, those who sneak around usually wind up dead."

Sasuke was so stunned he couldn't even blink. This side of Kabuto had only been seen in his vision, who knew it already existed.

Suddenly the thick tension in the air dissipated. Kabuto grinned , then spoke saying. "You've now made it possible for me to be half myself around you."

Sasuke swallowed. He'd been outsmarted. But even as he realized Kabuto's superior outwitting skills, something still didn't seem to make much sense. Feigning to feel unfazed by Kabuto's psychotic nature, he smirked. "Ya know, for some one who seems to be really selfish, you sure did give up a lot for Orochimaru."

"Anything, and everything I do is only for my own selfish gain." He answered. "This may come as a shock to you, but Orochimaru means nothing to me."

_That wasn't as big of a shock as you might think._ Sasuke thought to himself. He stared Kabuto in the eyes. Something strange seemed to flash behind his pupils, and Sasuke knew without a shadow of doubt the man had lied about that last statement. "What the hell?" Sasuke muttered, now completely confused. _So Orochimaru does mean a lot to you? _Sasuke shook his head. He really didn't know everything about Kabuto.

"Sasuke!" a voice cried from the other side of the board walk.

Both Kabuto and Sasuke turned their heads towards the voice.

It was a boy with wild, untamed, yellow hair. "Naruto" Sasuke whispered. His face immediately turned red. _How, How did the idiot find me._

"Who's that?" Kabuto asked, noticing the shocked look on Sasuke's face.

"I don't know him." Sasuke panicked and pushed back his chair to duck under the table.

"Teenagers." Kabuto cursed, as Naruto stampeded to his seat.

"Do you know w-"

Kabuto immediately pointed his finger to where Sasuke was hiding before the blonde could even finish his question.

"Why's he hiding under there?" Naruto asked.

"Why don't you ask him yourself." Kabuto rolled his eyes.

Naruto slowly dipped himself under the table to find a perturbed Sasuke crouched in a small ball. His head was between his knees.

The idiot snickered. "Dude, you are so weird." He said, a small smirk pulling at his lips.

Sasuke slowly lifted his head and frowned. "What do you want?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly then rubbed the back of his head. "Well, um…we need to talk."

Sasuke tried to fake disinterest, but it wasn't working too much for him. "I-I don't don't want to t-talk to you." He lied. He didn't know why he was lying to Naruto, because, honestly, he knew they really needed to talk.

"Just stop." The blonde suddenly ordered. "You feel it too, don't you? The weird connection between us. Ever since that one day in the Café I haven't been able to get you off my mind."

Sasuke stared at Naruto bewildered. "You shouldn't say things like that to a guy." Sasuke finally replied.

The blonde looked at Sasuke with a confused expression on his face. He was only speaking the truth. What was so bad about that? "Quit being a weirdo, and come hang out with me for a little bit."

Sasuke glared at the idiot, trying to come up with an excuse as to why he couldn't hang out, but his brain seemed to be malfunctioning. He couldn't think of one story to tell.

"Sasuke, please explain to me what's going on?" Kabuto demanded. He didn't bother joining the duo underneath the table. "If you're socializing with other people without me or Orochimaru's consent, then your just asking for trouble." He warned, his voice holding a rather sinister tone.

Naruto shifted uncomfortably. "What's with that guy?" He whispered in Sasuke's ear.

Sasuke grimaced at the close proximity. "You're way to fucking close." He replied pushing Naruto away from him. The blonde knocked his head on the wood and winced. "Damn." He cursed and pouted while rubbing the top of his head

"Serves you right." The raven sneered, as he crawled up from under the table.

"And exactly who is this boy?" Kabuto asked, as the blonde shakily rose to his feet, his hand still cradling the top of his head.

"I already told you. I don't know him."

Naruto glanced at Kabuto and shrugged.

"Well apparently he knows you." The scientist went on, his fingers tapping impatiently on the table.

Sasuke refused to reply.

The blonde sighed "My name's N-"

"Nickolas!" Sasuke suddenly interrupted

Kabuto scoffed.

Naruto stood with his mouth agape, his name only milli seconds away from spilling from his lips, until Sasuke completely stole his words and twisted them into a rather odd lie.

"Nickolas …Cage!" The Uchiha added. "This is Nickolas Cage."

"Nickolas cage?" Naruto muttered to himself.

The scientist frowned. "Like the actor?" He glared, growing suspicious. "So you do know this guy after all?"

"I just remembered." Sasuke lied. "I met him at a book store. We both were going to buy the same book. 'A Separate Peace' by John Knowles. We got into a long discussion about the author's writing style… and yeah…I met him such a long time ago I just didn't recognize him. His hair use to be brown too…"

Kabuto made it obvious he wasn't buying Sasuke's story.

Naruto glanced at Sasuke somewhat confused, but once they locked eyes, he knew exactly what was expected of him. "My mom loves the movie City of Angels." He spoke up.

"Is that so?" The scientist slowly turned his head to look at the disheveled blonde.

"She says Nickolas Cage is her soul mate. It's an unhealthy obsession." Naruto jested, flashing one of his priceless toothy grins.

"Well that's just….interesting". Kabuto smirked. "Well, the noon is young. I guess even Sasuke here needs time to practice being a normal teenager." He stared long and hard at the boy. "Don't get into any trouble." He stated. "And be back in one hour."

"I'm not a god damn four year old." Sasuke fumed. He grabbed the remains of his horseshoe and the end of Naruto's shirt. "Come on you moron." He declared as he dragged the idiot away. Once they were out of Kabuto's sight. He tossed Naruto to the side.

The blonde almost lost his balance, but he recovered quickly. "What the hell is your problem!" He yelled. "You can't throw me around like that, not when I just covered for your ass! What your ass needed covering for, I don't know, but you should be more thankful!" Sasuke glared. "Changing my name and shit…." the blonde mumbled. "Who the hell would ever want to name their kid after Nickolas Cage?"

"My problem!" Sasuke replied, his eyes and cheeks red from anger. "My problem is"….He started but abruptly cut himself off. He grabbed the ends of his hair and pulled them until his scalp turned pink. With a loud grunt he sat himself down on the ground and tucked his head between his legs. His problem was he had messed up with Kabuto, really messed up.

"You like putting your head between your legs or something?"

"Shut the hell up!"

Naruto grimaced. Sasuke was obviously in a horrible mood, but he didn't know what to do. He sat down and picked up Sasuke's Styrofoam box.

"Did I say you could have the rest of that?" Sasuke asked frustratingly.

Naruto licked the cheese that was on his fingers and turned to look at the brooding teenager. "This," he said while tucking his legs under his butt, "this horseshoe is like the best damned horseshoe I've ever eaten!"

Sasuke wanted to snap Naruto's neck in half, but he'd go to jail for that, besides, the horseshoe was good. He lifted his head from his legs and stared at the blonde who continued to eat the remains of his lunch. There was cheese all over his lips and his nose and his cheeks. Sasuke studied his cheeks and noticed there to be three scars on each side, like a set of whiskers. "How did you get those scars?" He asked, finally calming down.

Naruto looked up once again and smiled. "The shadows did it." He replied simply.

"What!" Sasuke's eyes widened. "What did you just say?" He said while leaning towards the idiot.

"Well not just any shadow, a fox looking shadow did it. A bastard I tell you, but I haven't seen him since the day he did this to my face."

"A fox looking shadow?" Sasuke mumbled to himself. He never heard of a shadow taking the form of anything but, well, a shadow.

"Speaking of shadows," Naruto interrupted his thoughts, "I've been meaning to ask you something."

"Ok." Sasuke replied, finding himself rather pleased to have left eating lunch with Kabuto to spend time with someone who could possibly have the same abilities as him. "What is it that you've been wanting to ask me?"

"How do you get your hair to do that weird spiky thing in the back. It's really cool. I don't know. I was thinking of changing my hairstyle, but I wasn't too sure how I wanted to get it done. Than I thought, Sasuke would know since, well, we have like some weird connection thing going on."

Sasuke disregarded everything Naruto said except for his last sentence. "Naruto," he said looking into the blonde's eyes, "do you, can you do things that other people can't?"

Naruto blinked a few times. "Well yeah. There's a lot of things I can do that other people can't, like chug a whole can of ketchup with out taking a single breath and-"

"No Naruto, I'm not talking about those types of things. I'm talking about supernatural things. Things that only special people can do."

Once again Naruto stared at Sasuke, but this time he looked serious.

"So Can you?" Sasuke asked, his pulse suddenly racing.

"No." Naruto shook his head, his blonde fringe swishing over his eyes.

"You're lying." Sasuke quickly responded.

Naruto smirked. "Ok, I'm lying." He replied sarcastically.

Sasuke opened his mouth to ask another question, but before he could speak another word, the blonde stood to his feet.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, but I'm tired of sitting here. I'm going for a walk. I'll check ya later ok. Maybe when you're feeling a little saner."

Sasuke stood up and grabbed the idiot by his shoulders. "Don't, don't do this too me!"

"Do what?" Naruto snapped and pushed Sasuke's arms too the side.

"Fuck with my mind."

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"How can you say you don't have powers when you just told me the shadows put those scars on your face? Do you know what the shadows are?"

Naruto blinked a few times than laughed. "The shadows, or at least the shadows I'm referring to, is a gang that hangs out underneath the boardwalk. Their leader wears a freaky fox mask and calls himself Kyuubi. He's the one who gave me these scars. As for the shadows you're talking about, I ain't got a clue."

Sasuke, felt like an idiot. He stared Naruto in the eyes, but there was no sign of him telling any sort of lie. Sasuke was so desperate, he even tried to pry into the idiot's mind again, but he couldn't even do that. "This doesn't make any sense." He said.

_**xXx**_

"Hmm, that's strange. You don't seem like the type of person who would stalk somebody." Naruto groaned. "Then again you are a weirdo."

Sasuke looked up and found himself trailing behind Naruto as they walked through the crowd. "What connection do you feel between us Naruto?" Sasuke finally decided to ask. "And please don't tell me you're in love with me; otherwise I'm gonna have to kill you, and I'm not gonna care who sees."

Naruto snickered. "First off, I don't love you. I don't even know you. Second of all, I don't know why I feel connected to you. I just do. As queer as it may sound, I feel at ease when I'm around you, even though you're a complete douche bag."

Sasuke didn't know whether to punch Naruto in the back of the head or pat his shoulder blade. _Maybe he just hasn't broken through the mental barrier yet_. He thought to himself.

"Oh, I definitely have." Naruto spoke up, but he quickly caught his mistake and covered his mouth.

Sasuke Stopped and looked at him. "You just read my mind, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Naruto retorted and began to pick up his pace.

"Yes you do!" Sasuke yelled. "What's wrong with you? Why can't you just tell me the truth! If it makes you feel any better, I have powers too!"

"I already know this!" Naruto shouted, but then he realized his mistake again. His quick stride turned into an all out sprint. "How about we hang out tomorrow. I might explain everything then." He yelled over his shoulder.

But Sasuke wasn't going to let Naruto Get away. He wanted an explanation sooner than later.

They ran the whole length of the boardwalk until they reached the beach. Naruto's pace slowed down as his feet hit the sand. This helped Sasuke catch up to him. With one ferocious leap, he tackled Naruto near the water.

"Got you, you fucking moron!" He cheered, Naruto wasn't under him.

Somehow he had disappeared.

* * *

Peace Love and NOOOOdles!


	5. ch4 21 Questions

Forgive me for the long update. College has started up; so you know how it is. This chapter is fun and informative, I'm lightening up on the angst and craziness a little. This chapter also introduces a new Naruto character. There will be more…so if you don't necessarily like this character….just be patient. I plan to use as many Naruto characters as possible in this story.

Disclaimer: No owe

Ignore the few grammar mistakes. I will fix them.

Please review. I got to have feed back because I want to please my readers. If you don't like something or do like something please inform me. Compliments are nice to. It gives me motivation. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. You rock my socks, my world, and my typing pad!

_**The Orange Swirl**_

_Ch4. Twenty-one Questions _

* * *

"Next week!" Sasuke whined as he pulled the covers over his head. Kabuto stood in Sasuke's now doorless bedroom door way with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Yes, Sasuke, school starts next week, and we still haven't gone shopping for school supplies."

"Why do I have to go shopping with you?" Sasuke cursed as he twisted himself further underneath his covers, his knees tucked to his chest.

"Because!" Kabuto barked, his glasses sliding down his nose. He poked them back into place.

Sasuke slowly sat up, his eyes red and his hair a stringy mess. He clicked his tongue a few times "Because…..?" He drawled while staring at Kabuto. "That's not an answer." He continued. "That's a subordinating conjunction."

The scientist rolled his eyes and walked over to Sasuke's bed.

"What are you doing?" The raven protested

Kabuto ignored him and proceeded, ripping the comforter from his pale, lean body.

Sasuke scrambled to recollect the blankets, but Kabuto's grasp was stronger than his.

"Why do you insist on being such a nasty little prick?" The scientist roared as he threw the sheets carelessly to the side.

The Uchiha rubbed his shoulder, finding it to be more interesting then the lunatic hovering over his bed.

"Get up and get dressed!" The scientist ordered, his patience was wearing extremely thin.

Sasuke complied and rolled out of bed. "Do you enjoy being an ass?" He complained. He lifted his shorts over hiss belly button, tightening the band so they wouldn't sag.

"What if I told you I do?" Kabuto answered his expression serious. "Things are about to change around here. So don't get too comfortable. Your sassing days will soon be over."

Sasuke glared. Like he'd believe such a tall tale. "Get out of my room!" He yelled, pointing towards the door

Kabuto had expected such a response and crossed his arms over his chest. "Ten minutes, that's all I'm giving you. If you're not in my car by then, you can find someone else to buy all your damned school supplies." He turned to leave the room. "I don't see why I have to be the one to waste my money on such an arrogant little ass wipe anyway…" He mumbled to himself, but loud enough that the Uchiha heard him.

Sasuke shook his head as Kabuto exited his room. _This is what I get for opening my big mouth_. He scorned himself. He should have never agreed to go out to lunch, yesterday. Kabuto was so much meaner now, and to think he was only being 'half' of himself, (whatever the hell that meant). But one thing was for sure, Sasuke did not want to meet the other half.

"I dew newt know ziske, but if ze ask me ther iz zomething very peculiar about ze white haed dude." A voice, poorly imitating Steve martin from the pink panther, trailed into the room. Sasuke, completely startled, stubbed his big toe on the leg of his desk. "Shit." He cursed as he hopped on one foot.

Naruto slowly peeked his head through the broken window, the curtains making a canopy around his face. "Morning." He grinned. Sasuke looked at the blonde completely baffled, but his confused expression quickly morphed into a glare as he suddenly remembered what had happened the day before. "You idiot!" He growled as he marched over to the window. He grabbed Naruto by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the floor.

"Hey, hey," The blonde yelled, "you do realize that the window is broken!" He hollered, his legs barely escaping the sharp edges of the broken, pointy glass. "You could have sliced my leg open!" He freaked as he tried to stand to his feet.

Sasuke pinned him to the ground, his foot pressing hard into his chest. "Just what the hell do you think you're doing here?" He asked. "You're a fucking maniac!" He added.

Naruto frowned. "Did I not say that we should hang out tomorrow. By tomorrow I meant today, since I asked you yesterday."

"You pulled a Houdini on me yesterday!" Sasuke screeched, his hands forming fists at his sides. "You should know that, that really pissed me off, yet here you are, in my house, acting as if your some type of treasured guest." He shook his head frantically. "Gees, I just don't get you!"

"What is there to get. "Naruto replied. He folded his hands behind his head and sighed contently. "You and I are connected. Whether I did a Houdini or not is not the point. The point is that I'm here with you right now." He smiled cheekily, settling himself in the carpet. "You can't hide it Sasuke. You're happy I'm here aren't you?"

Sasuke grimaced. From the way Naruto looked under his foot it seemed possible that the idiot was homeless. I mean, only a hobo could find himself comfortable in the most unpleasant of places. "Stand up." The raven ordered and pulled Naruto to his feet. He paced once or twice, to and from the window, than cursed to himself as he tried to comprehend the thought process of the idiot standing next to him.

"So this is your room." Naruto asked while sprawling himself out on Sasuke's bed. "To tell you the truth I was expecting something a little…different."

"Well, what were you expecting." Sasuke asked offensively. "Black walls, cobwebs, posters of demons and human sacrifices?" The raven glared at the blonde, his arms tucked neatly under his chest.

"Actually, I was thinking more on the lines of a Strawberry Shortcake lay out, but if that's what you're into, hey, who am I to judge." The idiot mocked, causing Sasuke to grit his teeth.

"Just shut up." He seethed. "I didn't appreciate what you did yesterday." He scoffed. "Leaving me all high and dry with unanswered questions…" he uttered. "I couldn't sleep all night!"

"What is it with you and asking questions?" The blonde whined.

"What is it with you randomly popping up in my life?"

Naruto sighed, "We are con-"

"Connected connected. I know this." Sasuke mocked then scoffed again. He looked at his alarm clock. he had less then seven minutes to get ready. He turned his gaze back to the idiot. "As much as I want to beat your face in, while forcing you to spill all your little secrets. I can't. I have to go shopping for school which starts next week." Sasuke strolled over to his dresser and pulled out a pair of black jeans. "Don't think your getting off easy though cause-"

"Can I go with you?" Naruto interrupted.

Sasuke blinked. "What?"

"Are you like hard of hearing or something?" Naruto furrowed his eyebrows. "I said can I go with you, as in, can I go shopping for school supplies with you?" He asked, his hands frantically moving to the syllables of each spoken word.

Sasuke didn't respond. He just looked at Naruto. Just what, exactly, was going on. He and Naruto weren't friends, in fact, Sasuke wanted nothing more than to beat the shit out of the blonde. So Why did he feel obligated to let him come school shopping with him? Sasuke shook his head. The idiot was nothing but trouble. "I guess." He finally responded.

A wide grin formed on Naruto's face.

"Although, if I let you come you'll have to refer yourself as Nickolas Cage. Kabuto isn't one to fuck around; if he finds out your real name is Naruto, he'll grow suspicious, and well, I don't want him and Orochimaru ruining my life anymore than they already have."

"Who's Orochimaru?" Naruto asked.

"a snake." The Uchiha answered as he turned back towards his dresser.

"Oh really." Naruto inspected Sasuke's room as the raven dressed himself. He noticed the broken door and the huge dent in the wall, but didn't bother to ask about what happened. There was no need, because he already knew.

"Who are these people in this picture." He suddenly asked when he noticed the picture frame on Sasuke' desk. He picked it up and cradled it in his hands.

Sasuke's body tensed. Naruto noticed and quickly set the picture back on the counter.

"My family." The raven answered curtly. "Let's go." He said and left the room.

**xXx**

"Nickolas?…..I wasn't expecting to see you this morning." Kabuto cocked an eyebrow as Sasuke and the blonde walked out of the house. The scientist bit his lip, his gaze never leaving the raven.

"He's coming with us." Sasuke declared and opened up the passenger door.

Kabuto stared.

"Well," Sasuke shrugged, while looking back and forth between Kabuto and Naruto. "What are we waiting for? Let's go."

The blonde opened the door of the back seat and entered the car slowly. When Kabuto didn't say anything he closed the door softly and tucked his hands in his lap.

Kabuto sighed then scratched the back of his head. Sasuke really knew how to get under his skin. "Yes Sasuke, you're friend can come along with us. Thanks for asking, I feel really respected." He sneered sarcastically.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Would you just come on. My door is locked; you're going to have to unlock it, quit standing around like an idiot."

Kabuto gripped the car handle. "Ya know what?…. no. I meant it when I said your sassing days are over. Until you learn to take my authority more seriously, don't ask me for anything." And with that Kabuto fumed off but not before handing Sasuke a credit card. "Here." He said, tossing it over the hood of the car. "It's yours. Buy your own shit for once."

The raven blinked as Kabuto walked into the house.

"now what?" Naruto asked, rolling the window down.

"We walk I guess." Sasuke grumbled. He had screwed up once again.

"Is he always like this?"

The raven sighed. "Don't ask stupid questions."

Naruto exited the car and jogged towards the sidewalk. "Do you wan to race?" He asked while jogging in place.

The Uchiha shook his head. "What the hell is with you? Is your brain run by hamsters or something?"

"Man, you're an ass hole." Naruto complained while stretching his arm over his head. "Every morning I usually take a jog around my neighborhood. But since I came here right when I woke up I wasn't able to do that."

The side of Sasuke's mouth twitched. "How did you know where I lived anyway?"

"I followed you." Naruto shrugged

"God, you're a creep!"

"Not like that idiot….."

"Then what the heck are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, taping his foot against the concrete of the drive way.

"It's too hard to explain."

"Right, well you're a nut case!"

Naruto grumbled something to himself then lifted his arms into the air. "Just shut the hell up and race me to the store ok." He said while shaking his hands. "If your mad, beat me in this race. It'll make you feel better."

"The store is like five miles from here." Sasuke rationalized. He couldn't run that distance or could he?

"Oh, I forgot. You're slow aren't you?" The blonde teased. "And not in shape." He added. "Racing you would be like racing a one legged dog."

Sasuke growled at this. "Whatever, dead last! If you wanna race, I'll race!

The blonde smirked, basking in his success at provoking the haughty Uchiha. "Good." he said. "But I'll warn you , I have a lot of stamina."

"Tch." The Uchiha shrugged. "And I'll warn you,: he smiled evilly as he sauntered over to the side walk, "I do whatever it takes to win."

"Well then," Naruto's smirk grew bigger, "this race should be interesting."

"I agree." Sasuke answered then took off before Naruto even had the chance to say 'on your mark, get set, go!' "That bastard." He cursed then took off after him.

Sasuke wasn't really sure why he and Naruto were racing, but at that time he found it to be…fun. He still hated Naruto, I mean the guy was a psycho, but it wasn't every day he got to run and play like he was doing now. The store was five miles away. Why Naruto had expected them to be able run the whole distance was way beyond Sasuke's understanding, but he wouldn't stop, not until he knew for sure he would win. His sprint had turned into a very fast stride. He turned back, looking to see if Naruto was behind him, but he wasn't. _So much for stamina_.

"I hate being underestimated."

Sasuke snapped his head forward then looked to his side. Naruto was running right beside him. Had he been there the whole time? "When did you catch up with me?" He asked.

"Just now." The blonde grinned.

Sasuke frowned and quickened his speed, taking larger strides. Naruto stayed right with him.

"There's no way we can keep up this pace for five miles." Sasuke heaved .

"That's alright." Naruto answered. "All I have to do is keep up this pace longer than you."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. Naruto's comment had caused something to ignite deep within his chest. It was in that moment he decided he wouldn't lose the race. No, even if his heart burst from his chest, he most definitely wouldn't lose.

_**xXx**_

The two boys ran

and ran

and ran.

Even though Sasuke's legs ached he found it comforting to run alongside Naruto. It was, in a sense, reliving. Running, in general, was relieving. He made a side note to run more often.

_**xXx**_

A half an hour later the sign for Wal-Mart finally appeared in the distance.

_This is the final stretch. _Sasuke thought to himself. He couldn't speak out loud. He was way too exhausted.

_**Now is the time to show me what your made of**_. A random thought floated around in the raven's mind. He figured it to be from Naruto. Surprisingly, both boys were able to keep the same pace for the entire distance of the race. It wasn't until they entered the Wal-Mart parking lot that their strides quickened once again.

Sasuke's heart was pounding in his chest. How he even managed to make his legs move faster was just an unfathomable mystery. It had to be his stubbornness. The thought of losing to Naruto seemed worse than anything he could possibly think of. But Sasuke recognized he was pushing himself past his limit. The world seemed to slow down, and every sound, whether it was a bird chirping or the click-clacking of a cart being pushed, made a loud deafening noise. The thud of he and Naruto's feet slamming against the asphalt filled his pale ears with a wrenching **(bang! bang! bang**!**)**. They were less then twenty yards away from the automatic doors of Wal-Mart, but Sasuke didn't know if he could make it. Huge droplets of sweat poured from the crown of his head, sliding over the tops of his eyelids. His eyes had succumb to tunnel vision, allowing him to focus solely on the building ahead. He could blame it on he and Naruto's connection. He could blame it on competitive male drive, but for whatever reason, winning the race had become the most important thing in the universe. Neither he nor Naruto knew what would happen after the race was over, but they both understood that when it was done a defining piece of their relationship would be forged.

**(slap)**

Which hand touched the sliding door first?

Both boys were breathing heavily, gasping would be a better term. Their bodies had been pushed way beyond their limits. Naruto lifted his face slowly. His fringe soaked in sweat. He stared down at Sasuke who had collapsed onto the sidewalk. A small grin tugged at his lips.

Sasuke looked up and smirked.

"tie." they both declared.

**xXx**

"Did you even bring a list?" Naruto jeered as he trailed behind Sasuke, who was pushing a cart down an aisle full of notebooks and folders.

"The list is right here." The raven responded while pointing to his head.

The blonde rolled his eyes. "I just use the same stuff every year." He shrugged. He pulled out some folders with crazy designs on them and studied them briefly.

"Hmm.. And let me guess you haven't passed the ninth grade yet have you?"

Naruto scoffed. "FYI ass hole, I have. Granted, I had d's in every class, but a d is still passing."

Sasuke chuckled. "Ah ha, here they are." He grinned and grabbed a handful of navy blue folders.

"Dude what is it with you and navy blue?" Naruto asked and snatched the folders out of Sasuke's hands. "You should try to shake things up a bit for once." He added while pointing to a box of neon colored folders and note books. "Try this." He said and grabbed a note book that was a bright and florescent, neon orange.

Sasuke blinked. "Hell no."

"You're lame." Naruto grinned cheekily.

**xXx**

"So tell me about yourself Sasuke." Naruto asked as they both messed with a rack of back packs.

"What is there to tell?" Sasuke replied. He didn't understand why it was so hard to find a navy blue book bag or a black one for that fact. They weren't special colors, yet there were still none to buy.

"I don't know. I just want to know you better is all. Like, what makes you happy, what makes you sad, what pisses you off, what you like to do in your spare time, and…..stuff like that I guess."

"Well, considering you can read my mind, why don't you just pry into it and find out for yourself."

Naruto sighed. "If I could I would, but you see, it's not that easy."

"So you can read my mind!" Sasuke snapped.

"I thought you knew this already." The blonde replied smugly.

Sasuke scratched the back of his head then leaned against a clump of messenger bags. "I assumed as much, but I wasn't completely sure. I mean, it's not everyday you meet someone who has psychic powers like you."

"Heh, tell me about it." Naruto replied folding his arms across his chest.

Sasuke smirked. "Forget about me. I want to know about you. You say it isn't easy to read my thoughts, but I catch you doing it way more than often."

Naruto puckered his lips. He sighed once or twice then began to fiddle with the buckle of one of the bags he particularly liked. "Let's play a game." He said, changing the subject, then turned to grin at his new dark haired friend.

The raven glared. "No, no, I don't think so." He replied and stepped out into the middle of the aisle. "Quit avoiding what's important."

Naruto shook his head annoyed. "I'm not avoiding what's important. I'm still going to tell you about myself, but instead of telling you formally I'd rather play a game."

Sasuke sighed. Naruto was such an idiot, not to mention a complete weirdo. The raven had no desire to play any sort of game. It wasn't his mission to discover things about the moronic blonde, but more his right. Naruto blinked, and the raven scratched the back of his neck. Then again, if Sasuke tried to force answers out of Naruto, he'd probably pull another Houdini, and that would be highly annoying. "Fine, what the hell is this game that you're talking about?"

Naruto immediately perked up and took a small step towards the Uchiha. "21 questions."

"21 questions." Sasuke reiterated. He cocked an eyebrow.

"You really are hard of hearing aren't you?" Naruto shook his head in disbelief. "Yes stupid, 21 questions."

Sasuke walked forward tucking his arms under his chest. "So you're allowing me to ask you 21 questions about anything?"

"No, three."

Sasuke stopped in front of the blonde. "You just said 21!" he snapped.

"Yes, I did say21, but only three questions can be asked in a day."

Sasuke bit his lip, restraining himself from knocking Naruto upside the head with his fist. "I don't want to play that way!"

"Well, it's either that way or no way." Naruto declared, his tone serious.

Sasuke glared, staring him In the eye, but the idiot didn't so much as flinch.

"You'll get to ask all your questions in a span of seven days or in other words a week."

Sasuke, scoffed. "I have no intention of spending my last week of summer with you."

"Then I guess you have no intention of finding out about my oh so awesome psychic powers."

Sasuke sneered

"Trust me." Naruto reassured. He rested his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke glared at it. "You'll be thankful you paced yourself with these questions."

Sasuke nodded slowly. Naruto had a point. With only being able to ask three questions a day, he'd have to make his questions very specific, otherwise he wouldn't gain much information.

"Alright. The game starts now. Be smart about what you ask though."

"Why?" Sasuke replied.

Naruto smirked.

Sasuke grunted. "Shit." he cursed under his breath

"I think your first question of the day has been answered."

Sasuke opened his mouth to argue, but Naruto ignored him and strolled out of the aisle.

"Naruto!" The raven yelled after him.

**xXx**

Sasuke watched the blonde closely. The idiot was opening a pack of permanent markers and sniffing each one as if each color held it's own original scent. _What should I ask him? _Sasuke thought to himself. He had only two questions left. He twiddled his thumbs. What did he want to know the most about Naruto? The raven made a list in his head. He couldn't find out everything with just twenty questions left. He sighed. Somehow he'd have to make Naruto answer multiple questions with the intention of only answering one. The raven slowly made his way to where Naruto was sniffing a green marker. Sasuke noticed that his eyes were glazing over and quickly pulled the marker away from his face. "These aren't scented you idiot." He said , forcing the blonde to put the pack back on the shelf.

"I know." Naruto chuckled, his eyes fluttering shut.

Sasuke quickly grabbed him by the arm and dragged him towards the mini food court. "What were you like as a child?" He asked as they passed the check out posts.

Naruto regained his composure and let out a tiny grunt. He didn't really like that Sasuke was pulling him around like a five year old. He leaned out of the raven's grasp. Sasuke reluctantly released him. He didn't want the idiot's attention to be captured by something irrelevant to the question he asked.

"I was…" Naruto started. He stopped at the wide entrance of the food court and shrugged. Sasuke stood beside him. "I was weird I suppose." He said and scratched the back of his head. "I didn't have many friends, and the friends I did have bullied me; so I guess they weren't really friends. I got into a lot of fights. I was always in some kind of trouble." Naruto smirked. "I'd prank people all the time." Naruto shook his head. "The nuns at the orphanage use to beat me till my butt was nothing more but ground meat."

_Orphanage!_ Sasuke's mind started to race. _So he must have no parents_. "I don't find that surprising." He teased. "It sounds like you use to be a menace."

"I admit that I was, but I grew up very lonely. I just wanted the attention." The blonde smiled sadly. "Everything changed once those one kids came." He mumbled to himself. But Sasuke caught every word.

Sasuke tilted his head to the side. _What kids? _he desperately wanted to say, but then he'd have to wait till tomorrow to ask another question.

"Good question." Naruto looked at Sasuke then observed his surroundings. "Are you hungry? Why are we at the food court?"

"Naruto Uzamaki and Sasuke Uchiha?"

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other then at the person who had called out their names.

"Ino Yamanaka." Sasuke said dully. _Just my gosh darn luck!_

_"_And she's with Sakura Haruno!" Naruto smiled, suddenly growing very excited.

The two girls walked over to where Naruto and Sasuke were standing with surprised expressions on their faces. Sasuke immediately grew annoyed. The two girls were always on his butt at school. He glared at them both, but stopped when he noticed something really strange about the Haruno girl.

"See, I told you Sakura." Ino whispered to her shocked friend. "Sasuke and Naruto do hang out with each other. I wasn't making it up." The girl immediately pulled out her cell phone. "You two," she said pointing to Naruto and Sasuke, "stand closer together so I can take a picture."

Sakura tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear and bit her lip nervously. She had the hugest crush on Sasuke, and being around the boy was very overwhelming, considering he hated being around girls.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and started to walk away, but Naruto grabbed his arm.

Ino gasped. "Look, look did you see that?" She said jumping in front of the pink haired girl's face. "I think they really might be friends." Sakura's mouth fell open slightly. "Sasuke has a friend! And his friend is Naruto Uzamaki!" Ino continued. "Do you know what this means?"

Sakura stared at Ino then pulled the girl to the side to whisper something in her ear. "You need to keep your cool." She ordered. "Sasuke hates fanatic people, and right now you're being fanatic."

Ino scoffed. "I am not!"

"Would you let go of me." Sasuke glared at Naruto.

Sakura blushed. This was the first time she had ever heard Sasuke speak. Ok, so it wasn't the first time, but it sure as hell felt like the first time. His voice was deep and soft. It reminded her of black velvet.

"Come on Sasuke. There are two really cute girls talking to us. lighten up, alright." Naruto replied releasing the raven's arm.

"I hate girls." Sasuke seethed out of the side of his mouth.

"Ok, and you thought I was gay." Naruto complained.

"No, I don't mean it like that."

The blonde cocked his eyebrow. "Then what do you mean Sasuke, because any guy who hates girls would be defined as gay."

The raven grabbed Naruto by the side of his stomach, pinching him through his shirt.

"Damn it Sasuke!" The blonde almost yelled.

"Do you guys maybe want to accompany us to the Boardwalk Café?" Sakura spoke up interrupting the two boys little dispute.

"When?" Naruto immediately replied. Pushing Sasuke off of him.

"Um, maybe later tonight, like around six or seven."

"No!" Sasuke barked, but Naruto quickly covered his mouth.

Ino and Sakura looked at each other confused.

"Say NO to drugs." The idiot blonde laughed sheepishly. "That's what Sasuke means. He use to be addicted to drugs but after going to rehab this summer, he's learned to say no to every offer given to him. It'll pass once he's fully clean….. ha ha ha ha." Sasuke glared diabolically at him. Naruto gulped. For the first time ever Sasuke had successfully intimidated him.

Ino nodded her head pretending to understand what Naruto was talking about. "Did you have to invite him too?" she mumbled to Sakura.

"I doubt Sasuke would come if we didn't." She mumbled back.

"Right." She agreed.

"Here's my cell phone number." Sakura pulled a pen out of her purse then walked up to Naruto and grabbed his hand. Naruto's face turned crimson. She wrote down her seven digits then smiled. "Just text me ok." She said glancing between the blonde and the raven. Naruto smiled uneasily.

Sasuke scowled. There really was something off about her. He just couldn't put his finger on it.

Ino quickly took a picture of Sasuke and Naruto with her phone. "I'm sending this to everyone." She freaked.

"Come on." Sakura said grabbing her friend by her purse.

Sasuke watched Sakura as she left, focusing on her petite frame until his eyes started to hurt. He gasped slightly when he saw a black line outlining her entire body. He turned to look at Naruto.

"I know." the blonde answered. His expression very serious.

* * *

Yes, this chapter is done! So, I've been thinking a lot about this story, and I've decided that's it's going to be a very long project. There's no way I'm going to be ale to condense the plot without making extremely huge loop holes; so if you are a fan of this story, I'm going to warn you now, it might be a year before this thing gets finished. If you want to stick around for the ride more power too ya, but I've got other projects on the side; so I can't make this my main focus. But don't get me wrong, I will continue to update this story. There's no doubt about that. I'm just going to start posting other stories on the side as well. Anyway…please review. Reviews make me feel like I'm the schiz. I will update shortly, please tell me what you think of the story so far. It's moving slower than I wanted it too, but it's whatever. I will be introducing more and more characters as the story progresses.

_Peace Love and NOODles!_


	6. Ch5 Trauma Splurge

**Well, I must say that I do apologize for the extremely long update. I never lost touch with this story, I just sort of got lazy. I know where I'm going for the next few chapters, of this I am sure, but it's taking a good amount of time to get there. If you review that'd be nice. I know you guys are probably pissed at me, but hey, at least I didn't just discontinue the fic altogether. I plan to finish this story…yes, I plan to finish.**

**Disclaimer: no own**

**An: Naruto and Sasuke are not blowing off the issue of the black mark around Sakura. It will be brought up again. They aren't that good of friends with the girl so they aren't extremely concerned about it. Now this chapter and the next are trailing a little off the main plot and diving into a subplot; although after this and the next chapter the main plot should start peaking its head. And the story will really begin. **

**There will be grammar mistakes. Just overlook them. I will correct them in due time. **

_**The Orange Swirl**_

_Ch5. Trauma Splurge_

* * *

"So, do you want to race back to your house?" Naruto asked once he was outside the Wal-Mart building.

Sasuke shuffled his bag of school supplies then tossed it over his shoulder. He walked past the blonde, ignoring him completely. The bag bounced against the small of his back. Naruto sighed and folded his arms above his head.

"No." The pale teenaged boy stopped to glare at the idiot. "What the heck was with that Haruna girl?"

"She's marked with something."

"So you saw the ring too?" He asked.

"No, I felt something when she touched by hand." Naruto cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by ring?"

"There was a glowing black ring outlining her body."

"What do you think it is?"

"Like hell if I know."

"Do you think it's bad?"

"Well, it can't be good."

The blonde tensed up. He didn't know how to feel about the issue. Should he be worried? "So do you want to race back to your house?"

Sasuke grunted annoyed. "I do not want to ra-…." He started, but the idiot was gone. He had spontaneously disappeared, again. "That son of a bi-"

"There's something really lame about you, but I just can't put my finger on it."

Sasuke froze. Naruto was breathing down his neck. He quickly spun around. The momentum of the spin caused the bag on his back to knock the idiot in the mouth.

"OW!" the blonde yelped, cradling his face.

"You sort of deserved that." Sasuke smirked, folding his arms under his chest. He didn't understand how Naruto could pop from place to place like he did.

"And why is that?" Naruto asked, still massaging his lip.

"Why'd you have to set us up on a date with those girls!" Sasuke suddenly snapped. I mean, one of them might have a curse or something, and plus," He twitched a few times. "we don't like them!"

"_You_ don't like them." Naruto corrected. "I, on the other hand, do. I may be supernatural, but I'm still human. And humans have needs Uchiha! Especially human boys! Cursed or not, I want some poontang!"

Sasuke sighed exasperatedly. "How many times do I have to tell you. That's not what I mean. I do like girls. I just, I just-…..poontang? Did you really just say poontang?"

"Yes, yes I did." The blonde nodded his head. "Continue on." he added with the flick of his wrist. "You like girls, but you just….."

"I just-" Sasuke reiterated.

"Don't feel comfortable around them." Naruto finished his sentence.

"No, that's not it." The raven grunted. How was he suppose to explain himself. His reasoning was complicated. He sort of grew up alone; so he just preferred to be alone. Some girls were attractive. Heck, even some guys were pleasant to the eye, but he had no desire to **be** with them. Girl…guy…it was all the same. "I don't really like people, Naruto. Is that so hard for you to get. Girl," he shrugged, "guy, I have no desire to be with either."

"Ok." the blonde nodded slowly.

"In other words, I'd rather be alone." Sasuke finished

Naruto's eyes widened. "So your sexual preference is your hand?"

"You're so freaking dumb!"

The moron opened his mouth to laugh, but it was slapped shut with the bottom of Sasuke's plastic bag.

**xXx**

"You know, you really didn't have to bitch slap me with your school supplies." The blonde whined as he and Sasuke walked through the front door of the house.

The raven didn't reply. The walk home had been a fairly quiet one. Naruto's mouth had swelled up, so he couldn't speak. Sasuke was very pleased.

"I think the swelling has gone down though." Naruto added as he stopped in front of the mirror. It was near Orochimaru's chair. He rubbed his chin then smirked. "Hey there good lookin." He said and snapped his fingers before he pointed at himself in the mirror.

"Hey." Sasuke replied back.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I wasn't talking to you." He scoffed as he glared at Sasuke's reflection.

"I don't see any other good-looking people in this house."

"Oh, well aren't you funny?" The blonde mocked.

Sasuke smirked. He watched as Naruto explored the house. He followed him quietly as he trailed into the family room. Naruto rubbed his hands against the red walls. "I like this color." He whispered to no one in particular. Sasuke nodded in agreement and crossed his arms over his chest. Naruto's eyes fell upon one of the leather couches.

"Nice couch." He grinned and did a belly flop over the back panel

"Hn." Sasuke responded.

"Where's your kitchen?" The idiot suddenly asked and quickly stood to his feet.

Sasuke pointed down one of the halls. Naruto leaped forward in that direction.

"Please don't destroy anything." Sasuke called after him. He waited for the sound of a bowl or a plate breaking, but it was chillingly quiet. The raven furrowed his eyebrows and walked down the hallway. When he reached the kitchen, he stopped and stared at Naruto. The moron was completely still as if someone had tagged him in a game of freeze tag. Sasuke moved towards him and stepped in front of his face. His eyes were open and flecks of purple danced, like fames, around his irises. Slowly, he lifted his hand and waved it across Naruto's face, but the idiot didn't respond. He was frozen. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat. He had no idea what was going on. "Naruto" There was absolutely no response. Sasuke reached out and touched his shoulder. When his hand made contact, he felt a bolt of static electricity shoot up his spine, fill his head, and then pour out of his eyes. A quick gust of wind filtered out of the kitchen. Sasuke looked around frantically. He had no idea what had just happened. He gazed at Naruto.

"That was weird." He blinked and turned to face Sasuke who still had a strong grip on his shoulder. "Dude, you look a little shook up. Are u ok?" he stared at the Uchiha, genuinely concerned.

"What the hell just happened?"

"Trauma splurge, or at least that's what I call them."

"What?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. He was beginning to hate repeating himself. "trauma splurge."

"Which means?" Sasuke questioned. His hand finally dropped to his side.

"At some point in the future, something very bad is going to happen in this room. I sensed the event and tripped out on the high levels of mental, and emotional trauma that the people involved are going to face. I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen, but considering I splurged out for like thirty seconds, it's gonna be pretty stinkin bad."

Sasuke had nothing to say. He only turned to walk away.

"You know what's going to happen in here don't you?" The blonde stated more then he actually asked.

Sasuke stopped and considered whether or not he should enlighten his new acquaintance of the vision he had. "No." He answered then sauntered up to his bedroom. Naruto followed closely behind.

**xXx**

"I'm bored." Naruto whined as he lied on his back in Sasuke's bed. He had removed his shoe from his foot and was now throwing it into the air, playing catch with himself..

"Then leave." Sasuke replied. He sat on the floor, indian style, with his eyes closed and his arms on his lap.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, abruptly sitting up in the bed. He watched Sasuke closely then sighed.

"Meditating."

"Why?"

"Because I like it." The raven answered. A scowl graced his lips as he grew more and more annoyed.

"Lets' do something?"

"I already am doing something."

"Guhhhhhh." Naruto huffed and threw himself back on Sasuke's bed. He rolled around a few times, staring at the wall and then shifting to look at the staccato surface of the ceiling.

"Stop moving so much. You're making it hard for me to concentrate." The Uchiha took a deep breathe, completely filling his lungs, before he blew the air out with his nose.

"I have an idea." Naruto sat up again. "And I think it's something that you're gonna want to do."

One of Sasuke's eye cracked open, and he turned his head to look at the moron on his bed. "What are you talking about?"

"I think together, you and I can experience the future."

Sasuke rolled his one eye. "Naruto, do you even know how retarded that sounds?"

"Just hear me out." He continued and gave Sasuke a pleading look that made the jerk close his mouth.

"Thanks." He grinned. "Anyway, I was just thinking. All my life I've always been able to sense misfortune." He stopped and bit his lip. "Ya know, it's hard to convince someone something bad is going to happen, especially if you don't know what that bad things is."

"What are you trying to say Naruto, because right now you aren't making any sense."

The blonde nodded his head. "I-I think one of the reasons you and I are finally coming together is because we're suppose to help people."

There was silence. "Like heroes?" Sasuke finally asked..

"Exactly."

"That's stupid." The raven bluntly stated.

"No it's not." Naruto defended. "I know you had a vision about what's going to happen in that kitchen. It doesn't take a psychic to see that."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Were connected punk, so if I felt something then that means you felt something too."

Sasuke took a deep breathe. "Fine, I did have a vision."

Naruto leaped off the bed. "I knew it!" He shouted. He took a seat directly in front of the Uchiha. "You're dumb for thinking I wouldn't know."

"Shut up." He replied. "I already know what's going to happen; so I don't think there's any need to do whatever it is your planning."

"Oh yes there is."

"And Why is that?"

"Because the vision you had probably only showed the ultimate result of a step by step process."

"Explain more." Sasuke rubbed his forehead annoyed.

"What is there to explain?" Naruto complained. "Every climatic point in life has steps that lead up to it. It's like a trigger-effect. One thing triggers another thing then that thing triggers another thing and so forth and so forth until, BOOM, something explodes."

"So what are you wanting to do then, Naruto?"

"I want to find out what happens before the boom; so we can stop it."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Absolutely not!"

The blonde grabbed Sasuke by his shoulders and shook him. "Why not!"

The Uchiha's expression became serious and he slapped Naruto's hands to the side. "You don't even know the extent of how messed up that whole situation in the kitchen is going to be."

Naruto didn't reply.

"There are some things that should be tampered with, and then there are things that people should just stay out of. We don't have the right to mess with fate because we aren't God. We're just two teenaged boys."

Naruto blinked. "Tell me what's going to happen." He said. His voice didn't waver.

Sasuke thought about it. "No."

The blonde sighed. "What if I told you that by not stopping whatever horrible event that's going to happen in that kitchen, you'll be the one to pay the ultimate price?"

Sasuke snorted. "I'd tell you you're full of shit."

"Sasuke, Kabuto is going to kill you."

The Uchiha tensed, but he played it off like he had an itch. "Quit making things up."

"I'm not making it up. There's something not right about that guy, and the hatred he harbors for you and that Orochimaru person is….at atomic levels."

"You don't even know Orochimaru; so how do you know he hates him?"

"Does he hate him?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke rubbed his arm. "Yes."

The blonde stuffed his hands into his pockets.

The raven turned his gaze to the floor. Naruto was making a point, or was he just being manipulative. But Naruto wasn't a manipulative person. He was to stupid for that.

"So you really think we should do this?" He asked looking into the blonde's eyes.

"Yah."

Sasuke pursed his lips. "Fine. Lets do it." Before Sasuke even had a chance to react, Naruto had already pounced on top of him. He pulled the raven into a head lock and gave him a heart felt noogie.

"I barely know you, but I already love you." He laughed. Sasuke desperately tried to pull him off, but he was failing miserably.

**xXx**

"So explain to me what it is we are about to do?" Sasuke asked as Naruto opened up a salt shaker and poured it's contents onto the floor.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone who has asked more questions than you."

"Just answer me, dumbass!"

"We're going to open up a portal to the future."

Sasuke watched the blonde in disbelief. "What the hell is with the salt?"

"It's a barrier." He answered just as he finished creating a circle around them.

"A barrier?"

"It's so we don't end up in some other dimension. I would normally use chalk, but for now salt will do.

"So you've done this before." Sasuke watched the moron closely.

When Naruto placed the salt shaker back on the table, he took his place directly in front of Sasuke and crossed his legs. "The floor's kind of cold." He grinned.

Sasuke didn't blink. "Who are you?"

Naruto glanced around the kitchen. "I'm Naruto Uzamaki."

"That's not what I mean." The Uchiha replied. "How do you know how to do all this stuff? It's just not making much sense to me."

The blonde smirked. "First off Sasuke, I've been using my psychic powers way longer then you have. Second of all, I read about this stuff at the library. I need to know why I'm the way that I am, and how it works and what you can do with it. Do you understand?"

Sasuke nodded his head slowly. It made complete sense. Naruto, like himself, had been alone in the world, thinking he was the only one of his kind, so of course he researched his abilities. He wanted answers. The raven wanted answers too. "Ok let's do this."

"I'm only going to explain this once; so listen closely." Naruto spoke seriously. "If you haven't noticed, I have the ability to teleport."

Sasuke smirked. That explained why the idiot would sometimes disappear and then reappear, moments later, in a different place from where he started.

"It has something to do with time and space, but I'm not smart enough to go into detail about it. Anyway, you have the power to split the forces of time and space and look into people's futures and their pasts…am I right?"

"I guess."

"Well, by binding our energies together, we can create, in a sense, some sort of psychic time machine thingy."

The Uchiha grinned condescendingly. "You have such an amazing way with words."

"Shut up." Naruto complained. "It's not easy talking about this sort of stuff."

"So how, exactly are we suppose to bind our energies together, and please don't say we have to kiss because that is so typical and just totally stupid."

Naruto stared at the raven. "You make it hard for me to believe that your not gay. I mean, it almost sounds as if you want to kiss me."

The Uchiha growled.

"Just teasing, and no we don't have to kiss, but we do have to have some sort of physical contact. We can just hold hands." Naruto held out his hands, and Sasuke reluctantly took them.

"Ok, now look into my eyes." Naruto spoke softly.

Sasuke looked up and gazed into Naruto's big blue eyes. He swallowed the lump in his throat and tried not grow nervous. Everything just seemed to intimate and he hated it. It was extremely unnatural to him.

"Relax and concentrate Sasuke. This isn't going to work unless you stay calm. I know you hate the fact that were holding hands, but you aren't gonna die, alright. Just pretend I'm a mannequin or something."

"Sorry. Last time I looked this deeply into someone's eyes," he thought about Kabuto and the greenhouse, "I-"

"I know." Naruto smiled softly. "It'll be alright." He said and squeezed Sasuke's hands.

The Uchiha relaxed, and let his mind slip. He trusted the idiot, so he wouldn't hold back.

"Try to open your mind to the future events that are going to unfold in this kitchen. When you find it, I need you to pinch me until you draw blood. When that happens, we'll jump forward in time, ok."

Sasuke nodded his head. He started to search deep within himself, never once turning his gaze away form the blond. He could feel energy burning within his chest, and he focused channeling the energy to his eyes, where he knew he could summon the vision he had about Kabuto. As the energy trailed to his head, his eyesight became blurry, the edges of his vision darkened. It was almost time. He heard a voice, and he knew it was Orochimaru's. _Should I pinch him now? _Sasuke freaked. He knew Naruto said pinch him when he saw the vision, but he was scared that the vision wouldn't come all the way; so he pinched Naruto until he felt a warm liquid on his fingertips.

Naruto immediately responded to the signal.

And with a white flash they jumped into a time warp.

* * *

The wait was long, I know. But look on the bright side. I finally updated. I didn't discontinue it. That's all that matters…..right?

-Poodle my Noodles-


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